#He literally grew up in such a loving family. the wizard took advantage of that. saw all that love and warped it

[boo-moved]

Holding Komi in my hands

[weasleyslag]

i’m not coming home | p.w

summary: A collection of letters between Percy and his girlfriend Penelope Clearwater following his estrangement from his family.

pairing(s): Percy Weasley/Penelope Clearwater

wc: 6.2k (lol I’m sorry)

warning(s): heavy cursing, hella toxic relationship, no happy ending

ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30644294

Dear Percy,

See, I told you I would write! I really am so proud of you and your new job. I hope you’ll allow me to come visit your new apartment soon. I know you’re very busy, but maybe not too busy for me? My dad told me he’d pay for my stay in London if you invited me, but I think it’d be more fun for me to stay with you and go to a show or something. I heard there’s some good muggle performances down there, I’d be interested to see that sort of thing. It’d be an good change, I’m up to my head with wizards that think they’re so talented. 

Please tell me all you can about your job when you write back! I know it must be super under wraps, being the Junior Assistant to Fudge himself, but I would be interested in knowing the most mundane of things you can tell me, it would most certainly be more enthralling than the highlight of any of my days. I was hoping I’d be promoted to something more dignified by now, but they’ve still got me watching over some of the Ministry workers’ children. You know I like kids, but I’d rather not be a glorified babysitter. There’s not even many learning activities I can do with them, I’m pretty much instructed to do puppet shows and other silly tasks for them all day. Hopefully someone recognizes my potential soon. Maybe since you work with Fudge now, you can say something to him??? 

I hate to turn this letter sour but Fred and George have gotten into contact with me this week. They’re really worried about you. They said that they’ve all written to you and the letters are always sent back, unopened. You must know this hurts them, why don’t you at least read the letters? You know they love you and I know that you really are kind at heart; you must still have love for them. I know it must have been hard for you to hear that after all your efforts, your dad doesn’t believe you’re capable of receiving such a prestigious job on your own merits. But of course they are all paranoid, what with all that happened last Spring. I hope you can find it within yourself to be the bigger person and reconcile with your family. Maybe they’ve even apologized in their letters, you’ll never know unless you read them. Don’t read Fred’s though, he’s more mad than the rest of them. I’m sure he’s thrown every name in the book at you.

I hope my next letter will be in better spirits. I hope Hermes is doing well and I hope even more so that you will adjust to life in London well.

With Love, 

Penelope 

Dear Penelope,

I cannot express with words how excited I was to receive your owl. I hope you don’t mind that I kept her for a few days, Hermes adores her and she reminds me of you. However, I also had to keep her back because it took quite some time to give you an adequate response to everything you said in your letter.

Hermes and I are well. He hasn’t adjusted as well as I have, but I understand. The air is polluted and there’s not much room for him to roam. There’s no forests in sight, only a bunch of buildings. If I wasn’t taking your letters, I would send him back to the Burrow. He was happier there and besides, the ministry has provided me a new owl for business letters.

I, on the other hand, am doing the best I ever have been. I am extremely efficient with my work and I appear to be pleasing my superiors. In my off time, I watch live shows and read. I have been getting into some Muggle classics, like War and Peace. Their culture is quite interesting, although ours is clearly superior. I am glad I am nourishing my mind as much as I can, I only wish there wasn’t so much noise outside my apartment. Jackhammers and traffic is all l I hear all day. It gets old fast. I’m not sure if you would like it here, but I would be happy to have you if you wish to visit. Although, I thought about your proposal to stay with me and I must decline. I would love to and I am sure my hormones would have a field day, but your father wants you to stay somewhere else and merely visit me during the day, trying to trick him would be wrong. I am sorry, but rules are rules, even when it comes to you.

I will speak with Fudge about your employment. I am a bit nervous to do so but I think he likes me, so I will certainly try. You’re a very smart girl and I believe if they just took notice of how you applied yourself, they’d move you up the ranks swiftly. It would be a shame to let such an academic be reduced to a daycare worker. That seems like something my mum would do if she worked. And you certainly surpass her when it comes to brains and ambition. 

Dismayed is an understatement for how I feel knowing that my family has taken advantage of our relationship to try to shake me. I do not wish to speak to them now, I will only speak to them when they realize that I am right, which I hope won’t be much longer. You’re right, of course, I do have love for them, even Fred and George, but I can not continue a relationship with people that discount my accomplishments and constantly laugh at my expense. Reading their letters is pointless. I read the first letter I received from Charlie and although he tried to be eloquent, he still wasn’t seeing things my way. He was basically just regurgitating everything my dad had said, just in a kinder way. He and Bill have always been the most sensible so I see no point in attempting to read the other letters, they will only be worse versions of Charlie’s. I will admit that curiosity got the better of me, however. A letter from Fred came in the same day as yours. You were right, it was awful. I shouldn’t have expected anything more, however, that boy is barely literate. Here is a snippet of his abomination of a letter (I have fixed the spelling mistakes, there’s no reason to subject you to that):

“You are a massive cunt, you know that? After all mum and dad have done for you. Seriously?  I can’t even call you a prat anymore, that’s just an insult to prat’s. You’re a slag for Fudge and we all know it. If you wanted to give him a good rimming, you could have just said so instead of causing us all this grief. Well not me, I don’t give one fuck about you. You could be in a ditch tomorrow for all I care. And maybe you will be, Fudge and his friends would just as well see you there as in an office. How could you choose him over your own mother? I hope you’re happy that you make her cry every night. I hear that you get paid three times dad’s salary and you have sent home not one knut. But twats like you don’t care about their family, huh? Enjoy your cushy apartment, I hope when you open the windows, a pigeon flies in and takes a shit on your head.”

Isn’t it just terrible? And it’s all one huge paragraph too, with unbearably non-flowy sentences. He is a right idiot if he thinks I’d ever want to respond to that. And why would I want to send money to people who treat me like that, anyway? I can’t put myself into his pea brain so I guess I will never know. Please make me take your advice next time so that I won’t have to subject myself to that kind of torture.

As for what happened this Spring, I’d rather not talk about it. The Ministry says that you-know-who is not back, so I’m afraid Harry must have been lying. Perhaps he had a fever and hallucinated the whole thing. I don’t hate him, by the way. I know my family must be trying to convince you of that but it is just not true. I think he is foolish and many adults are using him as a pawn. It’s sad, really. My family has gotten so desperate that they made Hermione and Harry write me letters too. I had already been informed by Fudge himself to turn over any correspondence from Harry, so of course I did that. I do wish I had the forethought to read the letter first, I’m very curious about it now, but oh well.

I care for you very much and hope we can arrange a visit soon.

With Even More Love,

 Percy

Dear Percy, 

I was hoping this letter would be more positive than the ones we have exchanged lately and that perhaps we could even arrange my trips to London, but I have gotten some terrible news. And I will not believe it until you confirm it.

There is a nasty rumour going around that you are to be court scribe for the Wizengamot in Harry’s trial. Say it isn’t true, Percy! I know it’s such an honor to work so closely with the Wizengamot, you’d be the youngest person in all of history to work as a scribe for them. But at what cost? Harry is your friend. I’ve been spending more and more time with your family and I consider Harry to be a friend now, too. I know the details of the case, and I’m sure you must since you’re apparently working it. Even if you don’t care for him, you must understand that objectively, Harry is in the right, at least morally. He was saving his cousin. The cousin that he grew up with and besides the kid being an absolute terror, he was basically his brother. Wouldn’t you cast magic to save your brothers or sister? How can you work for a case like that when you know you’d do the same as Harry?

I love you, I really do, and that’s why this breaks my heart so much. You’re turning into something that you aren’t for the sake of ambition. Please don’t do this. Come home and if Fudge truly does value you as much as you think, he will continue working with you even after you are on good terms with your family again. You must be missing them, aren’t you?

I will have to postpone the trip to London until you get all this figured out. I hope you understand. I am always open for you to come back here to visit me. We could all meet for dinner at the Burrow, where you belong.

I don’t have much else to say. I’m scared about what’s happening in the world and I’m nervous for you. I miss you, but I’m not sure if the you I miss is still you.

P.S: Tell Hermes I love him.

xxxx,

Penelope 

Dear Penelope, 

You have heard right, at least about the Wizengamot. I beg of you not to let my family poison your mind. Clearly, they want everyone to think I’m a terrible person. If they had it their way, we wouldn’t even be together right now. It’s not their fault, really, they suffer from cognitive dissonance, but they only think with their heart. That’s not sustainable and most certainly not how the world works. The court specifically wants me to be scribe and like you acknowledged, that is a huge honor. This is really going to help me get ahead even further. You know I have big dreams. I’d like to be the Minister one day and having all this under my belt would be a big help.

I really am not allowed to be discussing the case with the public, but I suppose I will make a tiny exception for you. I can’t help but have a soft spot for you; I musn’t make bending the rules for you a habit. You’re lucky I’m even physically able to say anything. The Ministry is heavily monitoring all the mail that comes in and out from high ranking members, but they haven’t done that with me yet (as far as I know, at least). I guess it must be because I’ve been so loyal and I won’t even receive my family’s letters, so they trust me. Little do they know that I have a weakness for you. 

As of right now, I’m not too worried about Harry (of course, they might change when court is in session and I get all the details). I think his case makes sense. I’ve poured through court cases similar to this one, although the defendants were never as much of a public figurehead as Harry (but that shouldn’t matter, the Wizengamot is totally unbiased and will not take Harry’s fame into account when deciding a verdict), and every court case similar to this ended in a not guilty verdict. I am not sitting as a court scribe to try to lock Harry away, it’s just my job. I don’t approve of him, but let’s not pretend like I never want him to see the light of day again. Anyway, I was surprised that someone that possesses your caliber of intelligence relied so hard on pathos to convince me that being a court scribe is wrong. Everyone knows emotion is a flimsy argument and certainly has no place in the courtroom. The fact that he saved a muggle’s life will definitely be brought up in court, but it won’t be because it’s someone he cares for. It’ll be because we have all sorts of laws about self defense and protecting each other, even a few about protecting muggles. I fear you might not have a place high up in the ministry if you continue preferring pathos to logos. And anyway, you trying to my emotion by bringing up my family makes no sense. My family are wizards, so if it came down to it, I could protect them and it wouldn’t be against the law. It’s not my fault that my family is better than those Dursley’s. 

I really must beg of you to stay away from my family and especially from Harry. That will probably not end well for you. Do not mistake that for a threat, I’d never hurt you, but I’m being realistic. Harry is off the rails and my family blindly believes him. In my opinion, Harry needs to be in a mental hospital, not roaming around as a public figure where everyone hangs on to his every word. He clearly suffers from PTSD after all he went through as a child between his parents being murdered in front him, a very powerful dark wizard trying to to murder him, and the muggle abuse he endured. And that’s not even mentioning all the pressure the world, especially Dumbledore, has put on him. He’s not a bad guy, he’s just insane. If the adults around him cared as much as they say they do, they’d put him away for a while until he can heal. But they won’t, that’s the problem. And now I hear that little Ginny is in love with him. I have never in my life been so in despair. I can’t help but think how bleak her future will be. Maybe I should write a letter to her. I doubt she’ll listen, but I do need to try. 

I really do hope you decide to come visit me. Maybe I can speak with your father and come to an honest agreement about you living with me soon enough. I am really lonely here and I’ve been thinking a lot about the future. It seems my family and I will never get along again and I have no one else besides you. I have all this extra income so I think it might be practical for me to marry you. Then, you wouldn’t have to hear all this rubbish from my family in order to feel close with me. I will speak with him about it soon. It’s not really all that bad here and even if you’re not good enough to have a real job in the Ministry, that’s okay. I make enough money and I do want a lot of kids anyway. It wouldn’t be practical for you to have a demanding long term job.

Love, 

Percy

Percy, 

Maybe I am a sensitive fool but I found much of your letter to be highly offensive. You essentially called me unintelligent throughout the letter, then didn’t ask but rather told me that you would be marrying me (only caring about what my father would say, not me). And to top it all off, you told me I was to be your personal incubator while you get to have an actual job. It’s insulting, really. What if I don’t want to do that, did you even consider that? I care for you and I believe I always will but I am not in a place right now where I fancy marrying you. I think I’d rather tie the knot with one of twins or Charlie. Besides, I felt unsettling how you alluded to muggles being lesser beings. They most certainly are not, they’re just different than us. I don’t know how I can be with someone that sees a whole group of people as lesser than them.

I must not have too much respect for myself. After all, I felt all those things that I wrote in the first paragraph, yet I’m still writing to you. What terrible damage love can have to the brain. I think I know how this whole thing will turn out, yet I still hope against my better judgement that we will end up together. I will try to put this past me if you can promise to not be so cruel.

Things are the same as always in my life. Spending most of the time with Mother and Father and the rest tending to children. I think I might die of boredom. I have been thinking about becoming a Hogwarts teacher, at least it would be less degrading than playing babysitter for a bunch of toddlers. Curiously enough, I received a letter from Snape about receiving a position, not Flitwick. He liked me well enough back in school, but I definitely didn’t think he would ever think about contacting me for a teaching role. I didn’t think he ever thought much about any student that wasn’t a Slytherin. I think maybe he sees himself in me. You know I was treated pretty horribly throughout school and something tells me he might have gone through a similar experience. That aside, however, he wrote me a letter requesting my presence to a meeting in a few weeks. It’s a meeting with all the current teachers, so I’m quite nervous about it. They want to speak with me about a new class, I think, it wasn’t any sort of curriculum I was familiar with. Still, I’m heavily considering it. It would be a big step up. I am a little worried about moving out there, but I think I’ll be alright. 

I know you act like you don’t care about how your family is doing, but that’s all it is, an act. So I will at least tell you the good parts. I’m sure you’ve seen by the addresses of the letters that they’re still sending you (because they care), they have moved. The Order has been restored, we’d all love to have you there, although I don’t have much hope that you would consider joining. Even Charlie and Bill have come back and joined. They miss you and I think they’re more than a little disappointed. Ginny is dating a kid named Michael Corner, not Harry. I’m sure you’re over the moon about that. Ron and Hermione have become prefects. That’s really good news, yeah? I’m not quite sure how Ron snagged it, but he did.

I promised myself I wouldn’t talk about any more conflict with you, so I won’t even bring up what you said at Harry’s trial. Just know I’m disappointed. What, I will say, however, is that it was so cruel that you didn’t even speak with your own father once court ended. I know you knew he was there. Look, I have a really bad feeling about the future and I can’t help but fear that something bad is going to happen and you’re going to regret being such an ass to them. 

This letter was all over the place, I apologize. I just have all these emotions and you don’t seem to understand. Or if you do understand, you don’t care. I don’t know which is worse.

Take care,

Penelope

Dear Penelope, 

I apologize for my behavior in my last letter. You’re right, I was only thinking of myself. I’ve just been by myself so much that I guess I find it hard to think about what other people want. I hope you can forgive me. Truly though, I think we could reconcile easier if you met me out in London. Of course only corresponding through letters has led to a strain. 

Please brace yourself, because I know if you do not prepare for what I’m about to tell you, you will be very mad at me. I consulted with Fudge and we have decided that you shouldn’t become a teacher at Hogwarts. It’s not a good look for me and it’s safe for you. Dumbledore is off his rocker, I’m not going to allow you to be put in harm's way. Fudge has sent a letter to Hogwarts, strongly suggesting that they find a new candidate for their position. I agree that the role is important, kids need to learn, and you would have been a great teacher. But it’s not the right time for you. I know you will probably be royally pissed for a while, but you’ll get over it. I did it for your own good. I hope you will be happy to hear that I have talked to Fudge about you having a proper job in the Ministry and he agrees. He will be writing to you with an offer soon enough. All’s well that ends well, you get a safer, higher paying job. And you can be near me!

Yes, I knew that my family had moved. I hope they move back soon, it’s not safe for them there. You’re right, someone is going to get hurt. I can feel it in my bones. And of course I will be utterly inconsolable, but it will not be my fault if something happens. It will be Dumbledore’s and inadvertently, Harry’s. I would love to give my family advice, but I know they will not listen. Therefore, there’s no point in writing letters. Besides, even if I did want to write to them, I think Fudge would catch on and have someone start monitoring my mail. I trust the Ministry completely, but I still find it’s in my family’s best interests if the Ministry doesn’t know their exact going on’s.

I heard Ron became prefect. I’m very proud. I wrote him a letter, which the Ministry read (and unfortunately a few unkind edits to, but I’m sure it was for good reason), congratulating him. Unfortunately, I don’t think he’s received it. He hasn’t written back. Maybe Dumbledore has started screening letters? I’m proud of Hermione too, although I didn’t write her a letter. You seem to speak with the lot of them often, so please send her my congratulations. She’s such a smart and sweet girl, she’s a good match for Ron (I can tell he likes her). I would have preferred a Pureblood but oh well, she’s better than most muggles. Oh and speaking of people dating, yes I am very pleased that Ginny has found a nice guy that’s not Harry. 

Love, 

Percy

Percy, 

Before I write anything else, I must address your hilarious claim that Dumbledore is monitoring letters. Ron got your letter, read it, then proceeded to burn it. He found it very offensive. He’s not happy with you, so maybe don’t send him more letters.

Fred and George are still mad, more than everyone else. George invited me out last week, I think only because he knew it would get a rise out of you. Fred’s the maddest of them all, as you know so well from his letters, but he’s with Angelina Johnson, so he couldn’t take me on the “jealousy date”. I don’t really fancy George, don’t worry, and I don’t think he fancies me. I must admit, however, that it was a nice time. It was a welcome change to listen to someone talk to me about their interests instead of being obsessed with a job. It was even more welcome that he asked me questions back and seemed to actually care about my responses. My favorite thing, though, was going out with someone that cared so much for their family. Someone that not only understood romantic love, but also platonic and familial love. I’d been missing that part of you for a while. But like I said, I don’t fancy him. I didn’t even let him kiss me. I feel guilty about it all, of course, I’d like to come down to London and try to get things in our relationship to run smoothly again. 

Also, yes, I am very upset that you had that letter written to Hogwarts. You totally crossed a line and if I had any balls, I would have broken up with you over it. But alas, I really do want to make it work. This is another thing that I think we need to work on together. In London. Please tell me your thoughts.

With care,

 Penelope

Dear Penelope,

Literally, what the fuck? I saw red when I read your letter. You. Went. Out. On. A. Date. With. My. Brother? And the little traitor tried to kiss you? I had half a mind to challenge him to a duel. But you’re right, he’s just trying to get me to act out and he will not get that out of me. There are so many problems with our relationship right now and I cannot bear to let you go, so we must meet and work things out immediately. And I’m not coming home, so you must come here. I’ve taken a week off at the Ministry, please arrive here as soon as you receive this letter. I will not be bested by the likes of George Weasley and a few other misunderstandings I may have thrown your way. 

No need to write back,

Percy

Dear Percy, 

I am so glad we had that meeting in London! I really do feel like we’ve fixed things. It makes me so happy that you have agreed not to be so unkind with your words in the future. And as promised, I have decreased contact with your family and all the other members of the Order. George has written me about a dozen letters since then, checking up on me and filling me in on what’s going on with your family. But as promised, I have not written back. If I expect you to uphold your part of the agreement, I must hold myself to the same standard.

I think I will take that secretary job Fudge offered me. It’s not all that you made it out to be, but at least I can be near you. I’m still too wary to marry you, after all it hasn’t been too long since we were falling apart, but I think it would be nice to be physically closer to you. I’ll see what I can do in terms of flats, since you’re too prudish to lend me room in yours.

Love you lots,

Penelope

Dear Penelope,

I don’t have much time to write at the moment, I’m very busy, so please excuse the short letter. I, too, am glad we are doing better. It was impacting my efficiency at work and I could not have that. I’m just glad there’s no more Fred and George, they were trying to hijack your mind and make it theirs. Besides, I have heard from more than one female that has come into contact with them, that they are basically a pair of incubi. I know you think I’m dramatic when I say that, but those two boys have turned evil, I know it. I should have seen the clear signs. It was so obvious from the time that they were little boys, chasing poor Ron with spiders.

Thank Godric that you are coming to join me at the Ministry! I can keep a close eye on you there, make sure you’re safe. I know the job isn’t glorious, but not everyone is as fortunate as me. You have to work your way up. I know you’ll have a very important job in no time. And I never said I wouldn’t let you live with me by the way, I said that I didn’t want your father to become cross with me. You really shouldn’t call me a prude, or do you not remember what all went in London when you came to visit? I didn’t think it was quite that forgettable, but I’ll just have to remind you when you move here.

Love, 

Percy

Dear Percy,

I’m sorry for the distance between letters. I meant to write, I really did, but everything went to shit here. I know I said I would distance myself from your family, but George wrote to me and said that your father is in the hospital. So now I’m back to semi-living with them. Did you not read your mother’s letter about it, Percy? She marked it “urgent” on the envelope. Your father was utterly distressed that you didn’t even write, much less visit him. It made his recovery harder and longer. Don’t you still care even a little bit? What if he had passed, wouldn’t you have felt so guilty?

Also, your mother collapsed and fell into a fit of tears when you sent your Christmas jumper back. Why didn’t you just keep it? It would have spared her feelings, even if you think you’re too good for the sweaters now. She made me a sweater, I loved it. But oh well, please think about the repercussions of your actions on others. You’re making it very hard on all of us. Also, Fred wants me to let you know that he wants to bring back drawing and quartering just for you. George is more straight to the point, vowing to castrate you if you two ever cross paths again (by the way, they both thought your incubus comment was very funny, I think it inflated their ego).

I know you are on the Ministry’s side, saying that Voldemort is NOT back, which is horseshit and you know it. But you do know who attacked your father, yes? Surely that should be enough proof for you. You’re very smart, why are you letting an institution think for you?

With peace and love,

Penelope

Dear Penelope, 

I am slightly dismayed that you didn’t keep up with your end of our agreement, going back to speak with my family. I do understand, though, my father’s attack was a shock and could have ended tragically. I know he’s better now, though, so please cease contact again. 

On a similar note, yes, I did read Mum’s letter and know that he was in the hospital. I sent flowers anonymously, if that means anything to you. And I kept tabs on him from the Ministry. If I felt that things were going downhill and he wasn’t going to make it, I would have visited. But he was fine, so it’s not a big deal. Maybe he will learn to not poke his head where it doesn’t need poking from now on.

As for the sweater, it’s not that I didn’t want to keep it. I love her sweaters, I wear some of the old one sometimes. But keeping the sweater would have sent a completely wrong message and given her false hope. So really, sending it back was a selfless act.

I know you want me to say that You-Know-Who is back. But you just don’t understand. I represent the Ministry now. What they say goes. That doesn’t mean I don’t have my own thoughts, it simply means that I stand with them.

Just wanted to remind you that you’re very beautiful and I miss your kind heart. I can’t wait for you to move here.

Love,

Percy

Percy,

I am most certainly NOT moving to be with you in London after the stunt you pulled. Betraying Dumbledore and holding Harry in place whilst being questioned by Fudge? What a dick move. I don’t know what I expected, you provided me all the warning signs. I guess that when it mattered, you’d do the right thing. Now I see how wrong I was. I need some time to myself, and you need to think over in your heart why you thought it was okay to do what you did. You just better be glad that Fudge sent you out before you got smacked the fuck up by Dumbledore.

From the top of my head to the bottom of my toes, fuck you

Penelope

Dear Penelope, 

This is the fifth letter I’ve sent to you in a row with no response, please answer. I know I shouldn’t have done what I did and I’m sorry. I’m embarrassed, really I am, but I’ve dug myself too deep. I miss you, I miss Ginny, I miss Charlie, I miss Bill, I miss Ron, I miss Mum and Dad. I even miss Fred and George. But it’s too late. I wish I had seen it before. They were right, you were right. I can’t let them know that. I feel so ashamed. I want to help them, but I also want to never bother them again. I saw You-Know-Who in the Ministry. I know all along that he was back, but I kept denying it for my job. But now I don’t have my family and I don’t have you, so my job is all I have. Please know that anything you see from me from this moment forward doesn’t represent my heart. You’re right, I don’t remember how many letters ago it was, but you said I wasn’t the person you fell in love with. You couldn’t have hit the nail on the head any better. There’s barely any left of that Percy, just his shell. So really, I shouldn’t be talking to you at all. I’m not the person you committed to. But I still love you. It’s total wishful thinking that I can have you back, but hoping is the only thing that keeps me from going insane. Bill wrote me a letter saying that he was engaged. I don’t want to face my family but I’ll go if I can see you.

Love, Percy

Percy, 

I felt like I should write you one last letter because despite myself, I still care. I want to give you closure. It’s clear to me that you’re never coming home, which is clear symbolism that you are never going to do the right thing. You said it yourself in your letters, you’re digging your heels in and standing by the ministry. You’re a filthy coward. 

Yes, Bill is getting married in a few months. We’re all very busy with preparations, it seems like that’s the only good thing that’s happening around here. You have an invitation, of course, but you shouldn’t come if you just want to see me. If I see you, I will make a scene and there will be more than just mashed parsnips being thrown at you (yes, Fred and George told me about how you visited just for the benefit of the Ministry. It’s pathetic, really). Your mum is convinced you will show up to the wedding and everything will be magically better. I know you better than that. I wish I was in blissful ignorance and thought you still loved us all, but you don’t. You’re not going to be able to get your head out of your ass until it’s one of us that’s laying lifeless somewhere because of the monsters of people that the Ministry have allowed to roam for so long. I know where you stand and you know where I stand. So there’s nothing else to say.

I’m sending back all the things of yours that I have. You should receive them all with this letter. Please write back if I missed anything.

Sincerely, 

Penelope Clearwater

[dramionediscussion]

I honestly believe that antis don’t know what dramione is actually about, and believe we just ship a bully with his victim–and refuse to deviate from their reasoning.

But dramione is NOT about that, because literally NO ONE in the dramione fandom (except a few bad apples) would ship a childhood bully draco with hermione. We understand that yes, doing that would make it toxic/abusive. 

draco’s racism was taught to him, just like the weasley children were taught that muggles and wizards and muggleborns were equal. the first eleven years of his life, he grew up with lucius malfoy as a role model–one of the chief blood supremacists. we know that canonically draco worshipped his dad. he learnt that muggleborns were scum of the earth. why would he question that? when we’re kids, we don’t question what our parents teach us–we just assume they’re right and that’s how the world works.

the same concept applies to his classism. the first thing he said to ron was “red hair. hand-me-down robes. you must be a weasley.” now, keep in mind that this is the first time draco is meeting ron. how is an eleven-year-old who’s never met the other child before, know exactly who the child is, and how the child would look?

again, the parents. lucius malfoy worked with arthur weasley in the ministry. he would obviously go home and complain about the “blood traitor and his poverty” to narcissa, and draco would probably overhear, and assume that that’s how you treat the weasleys, because they’re “bad people” in his father’s book, and by extension, his. 

the second book: at the start, lucius puts draco down because his marks were lower than hermione’s. draco is obviously put off, but he understands why–he’s a pureblood. he’s a malfoy. he’s supposed to be doing better than the muggleborns, because according to his father, they don’t deserve to attend hogwarts. later, he calls hermione a mudblood–again, where would he learn that type of language? definitely not the internet, because that didn’t exist. that takes us to his parents. 

now, the question probably is why wouldn’t draco see other non-racist people in school and change? because he didn’t hang out with other houses. slytherins are very isolated, and usually pitted against the rest of the school. draco’s friends, children of death eaters, were probably raised in the same way he was. if his parents taught him pureblood supremacy, and his friends’ parents taught them the same thing, why would he think to question it? 

draco malfoy was taught right from wrong, but those values just happened to be the opposite of what everyone else, like the weasleys, was taught. but just as the weasleys went in knowing that draco was wrong for believing in them, draco went in knowing that the weasleys were wrong for believing in theirs. 

in the third book, I think the whole buckbeak incident was realistic. if a child provokes a dog, and the dog bites it, the dog is the one that’s put down no matter what the child did. I’m not saying it’s “right”–I definitely thin draco 100% deserved to be punched by hermione–but it’s how the world currently works–maybe it will change later but for now, it’s reality. 

and as for the slytherins’ hatred towards hagrid–I’d say it was justified, because hagrid himself was no sweetheart to them. don’t get me wrong–I love hagrid, but he didn’t like the slytherins–you can see this when he talks about them in the first book. again, the books are from harry’s pov, so even if hagrid didn’t like the slytherins and said something about them, it would be biased. but yes, the slytherins often took it too far. 

the fourth book–draco’s bullying wasn’t even that bad. he actually warned hermione to get away at the world cup, in his own twisted way. he accidentally hit her with a curse meant for harry. he made “potter stinks��� badges–juvenile things. 

now for the fifth. let me get this absolutely straight: I hate umbridge. I hate the inquistorial squad. I hate that the slytherins joined them. 

but we have to go back to slytherin inequality for this. the slytherins are booed at quidditch matches. the whole school, including most of the teachers and their headmaster, are against them. in fact, I could say that the only teacher that favoured the house was snape, and have canonical evidence. it’s basically the slytherins vs the rest of the school. 

now, comes along a lady that actually seems to favour slytherins. for the first time, they’re made to feel important. she wants to form a little group to catch their worst enemy in an illegal act. who would say no? 

but again–the golden trio was no less. they purposely excluded the slytherins from the DA. forget malfoy and his cronies. not EVERY slytherin would be devoted to umbridge/malfoy. but the trio didn’t invite ANY of them–and not all their parents were death eaters. 

now, put yourself in their place. imagine your school formed a club excluding your house. why would you protect them, instead of catching them? they had no reason to protect the DA, so they didn’t. 

in the sixth book–I think at this point, draco’s grown out of his blood prejudice and realised that it isn’t a game. his father, probably the person he expects the most to protect him is in azkaban. voldemort has his mum, and will kill her if he doesn’t murder the wizarding world’s most powerful wizard. but why did he continue his discrimination? 

do you really think that draco malfoy, bully and blood supremacist for five years, suddenly stopped bullying muggleborns, that word wouldn’t reach his house? his friends/housemates would tell their death eater parents, and somehow, it would reach his father, or worse–voldemort, who would just find it an excuse to kill his mum. 

but admittedly, he didn’t bully the trio that much that year, and I think he called hermione a mudbblood only once–at the top of the astronomy tower, when he was trying to kill dumbledore. 

also dumbledore KNEW that draco malfoy had been ordered to murder him. he knew who had been making those attempts the entire year. and then five minutes before the death eaters got them, he offered protection. draco was expected to make a life-changing, life-threatening decision in five minutes? when he didn’t even know whether he could trust the order? for all he knew, they could hold his family hostage to draw voldemort out. 

but even then, he began to lower his wand, but it was too late. 

IMHO, I think draco only referred to her as “mudblood granger” at that time as a last-ditch attempt to constrain to his father’s beliefs–which would be VERY advantageous to him at that point, because then he would be able to find a reason to murder dumbledore. but we all know he wasn’t able to do it. 

in the seventh book, he refuses to identify harry, even though it’s obvious he recognises him and his family could gain EVERYTHING–but that’s a flimsy redemption arc at best. he stands by while hermione’s being tortured, yes, but that’s because it’s bellatrix lestrange–probably the most feared death eater of all time. would you do anything? I think not. 

draco malfoy was brought up in a different way, having different beliefs ingrained into him. do you actually blame a child for doing what his father said, when the child should have been old enough to make his own choices? do you still blame that child for having been exposed to only one sort of right their whole lives, and having a biased opinion because they were never taught to see from a different perspective? and do you still blame that boy, despite everything he’s faced, that he never went through with it? 

people who say “draco had a choice and he made the wrong one” are just wrong. what kinda choice would they make if a genocidal maniac was sitting at their dinner table, holding their mum hostage, until they killed the president of their country? 

 to me, I think draco and ron were both very insecure people, though for different reasons, and just had different ways of showing it. ron cut people off when he thought they were going to succeed without him, and draco made comments about the other person’s insecurities, probably to make himself feel better. ron was insecure about harry’s fame, but since he was harry’s best friend, he just had to put up with it (until the 4th book). draco had no such obligations. 

and to say that draco malfoy isn’t redeemable, is saying that people who mess up when they’re kids, will remain that way for the rest of their lives. it’s sending a message to all young people out there telling them the consequences of making a mistake–no one will like them. 

I’m not “excusing” draco’s racism. he was a piece of shit, plain and simple. but I’d say 98% of that is because of the way he was brought up. 

also isn’t it the whole point that we want people to wake up and realise their mistakes? half of america would have LOVED for donald trump to get up one day and realise that he’s a racist misogynist. ofc it wouldn’t change the past, but it would change the future.

now, onto the dramione argument. 

first off, saying that hermione wouldn’t forgive draco for the past is going against every aspect of her character. she had a soft spot for kreacher, the house-elf that grew up in a racist household and was therefore racist and called her and ron “mudblood” and “blood traitor” (quite similar to draco, actually). she understood where he was coming from, and why he was the way he is, and ultimately didn’t care. after that, how can you say that she wouldn’t forgive draco for having beliefs and values ingrained into him from when he was a child? 

second, who is the real enemy in HP? yes, you could say voldemort, but it’s more about what he represents, which is prejudice. having draco, a former blood supremacist and the son and nephew of death eaters, getting together with hermione, a muggleborn girl, would show that he’s thrown his beliefs out of the window. it’s his character growth and how he matures through the war and its aftermath. 

putting draco and hermione together as kids without any change to their characters is toxic and abusive, no doubt about it. but that’s not what dramione is about.

even in hogwarts fics like isolation, what the room requires, and clean, the authors make sure that he repents. they make sure to explicitly write his character arc, and to show that he is no longer a bully or blood supremacist. 

hermione is NOT draco’s redemption, since canonically he shows signs of awakening, if not actual repentence. she’s the conclusion of his redemption. it’s officially showing the world and society that he is no longer a blood purist. 

dramione isn’t about crazy fans thinking it’s adorable for a bully and a victim to fall for each other.

dramione is about change. and if you believe that people can’t change, that’s on you.

———-

Edit:

I agree with most of the points you’ve made except for the second paragraph. The majority of Dramione fans do indeed ship Hermione with redeemed Draco, but there’s nothing wrong with reading fics in which their relationship is toxic (I do that every once in a while) because neither Hermione nor Draco is a real person and you can put them in all types of circumstances. They’re both fictional characters and thus can’t be hurt.

- AgnMag

[lilytakeharryandgo]

STOP ROMANTICISING SEVERUS SNAPE - A MANIFESTO

“Albus Severus Potter, you were named after two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them was a great strategist, the other one was a racist, hateful, bitter, scary bastard. Voldemort must have damaged some brain cells when killing the Horcrux inside of me.”

Now that I have Snape fans raging and screaming for blood, here’s my show of evidence:

If the boring, same argument brought up by Marauders stans is Snape being a Death Eater, I know it’s basic, but it’s basic for a reason: it’s true. Supporting Voldemort doesn’t mean you support his ideas? I’m sorry, what did he support? The Dark Lord’s contouring skills? It is a truth universally acknowledged that joining a group of racists and following them in perpetrating crimes does make you a racist and a criminal.

JK Rowling herself said that Death Eaters are an analogy to Nazis, Marauders stans are not making this up. Are you questioning what JK ROWLING said? Because you know, she is JK ROWLING.

We know it was Snivellus that created the Levicorpus. He must have used it against the Marauders in order for them to learn it. And let’s just remember that “Snape’s worst memory” takes place after the Shrieking Shack’s incident, when dear, lovely Severus tried to unmask Remus so that he could be expelled for being a Werewolf. He went down to the Whomping Willow of his own free will, no one forced him, and he supposedly knew what was happening there: he risked his own life only to get Remus expelled. Yes, it was Sirius who thought it would have been funny to lure him to the Shrieking Shack where Lupin was due for his transformation, and that was wrong. However, why did he do that? Because Snape was constantly spying on them. Was it wrong? Definitely, no one is trying to get Sirius out of this one. Still, James saved Snape in time. Did James do that just because he wanted to protect Remus? Most likely: James gave them all a family and he loved his friends and would have done everything for them, and he did. But also, he wouldn’t have let an “innocent” (if we want to call him that) die. So James saved Snape’s life, which dear Half Blood Price seemed deeply ungrateful for later, and yet, Snape constantly tried to get the Marauders expelled from Hogwarts time and time again while using Dark Magic and creating his own dark spells (see the irony?). Stop saying that the Marauders’ actions pushed him to become a Death Eater. As if “Snape never missed an opportunity to curse James” was a lie. As if Snape wasn’t on his way to being a buddying Death Eater by his 5th year. As if Snape hadn’t came up with a curse that slices your body open by his 6th year. As if the Marauders had nothing to do but ruthlessly bully Snape all day and all night, when they actually are described as the brightest as some of the brightest students of their year despite being engaged in loads of other things like the creation of the Marauders Map, becoming Animagus, dealing with Remus’ monthly transformations (because those demonic guys didn’t leave him alone and didn’t report him to get him expelled as someone else was willing to do), James and Remus being responsible enough to be Head Boy and Prefect. Oh, and training for a war and joining the Order once they graduated. Minor things, right? Things they were busy doing in their personal lives such as surviving, living and being happy? Nah, that never happened, their entire life consisted of bullying innocent, poor service teenagers, that was their goal. Snape experienced one side of the Marauders (and we read that from his own pov, so it’s a little biased too): that is not a deciding factor of whether or not they (and especially James) are good people. He was so fascinated with the Dark Arts, even after Lily’s death and hence his presumed redemption, that Dumbledore did not appoint him as Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. Snape’s apologetics make it sound like the Marauders made Snape’s life hell every minute of everyday and he was the poor victim who was not capable of standing up to himself against those horrible demonic creatures, but he was the one inventing the Sectumsempra and using it against James, against George. Only a truly tormented person could have invented such a bloody spell. 

So now let’s talk about Remus. Remus, a hero who fought against Voldemort and joined an anti-terrorist resistance organisation when he was just 18 years old, who fought alongside Frank and Alice Longbottom in the Order, is about to start his first class with the third years. Neville is there, of course, Remus knows his parents’ fate, how they were tortured into madness, and probably guessed that Neville’s biggest fear would be similar to what he guessed Harry’s would be. He’s probably planning on stepping in before Bellatrix Lestrange shows up, but then it’s not her, it’s Snape. Snape who insults him in front of his class, Snape who tries to shame him. Can you imagine how he must have felt? Yes, they bullied him, but his best friend James grew up, and what did he get in return? Death. Instead, Snape hasn’t gotten over himself a little and most importantly he does not realise that being a teacher also means being responsible for those children. Snape never changes: he is the same petty, angry, bitter child that he had been in school, except now he’s bullying children half his age instead of yelling racial slurs at his classmates. While Snape is one of his students’ greatest fear, Remus starts off the year by letting his pupils confront their biggest fears. Remus truly, deeply cared about his students, and wait… what did Snape do? He got him fired! But even most achingly than that, just imagine… it’s 1993, Remus is coming back after a rough full moon. He’s feeling down, he’s weak, both physically and emotionally, he’s one more time without his friends by his side, one more time alone as he was before the Marauders became Animaguses to be alongside him to support him during the roughest times (horrible people, isn’t it?). So Remus is coming back to his class of Defense Against the Dark Arts, and his best friend’s son is writing an essay on how to kill him. But Snape didn’t stop there, no, he told the whole Wizarding World that a man who had struggled to keep his condition secret all his life was a Werewolf. He had to withdraw from his position as a professor because of that, and straight after that the Ministry issued a law against Werewolves which made it impossible for Remus to have a job. So, to sum it up, not only he exposed him as a Werewolf, he also condemned him to live in poverty and be persecuted for that reason. Also, quoting, when Remus was trying to explain things in PoA he attacked him and said “I’ll drag the Werewolf, perhaps the Dementors will have a kiss for him too.” James and Sirius were the kind of persons, the kind of friends and brothers, who risked their own life every month for one of his best friends. Think about this: they found out about Remus’ situation when they were just boys in their first years of school, and they didn’t leave him, they decided to help him embarking in something much bigger than themselves. Whereas dear lovely 33 year old Necrophilus told everyone about Remus’ secret and basically had him fired. Sounds angelic, why haven’t I thought about doing something like that before? That would most certainly secure me a spot in heaven!

Do we want to talk about an abusive person? Well, Snape was not just abusive as a person, he abused and took advantage of his position as a teacher (and Head of House too, to reward extra points from the other Houses) to bully his own students (even after his presumed “redemption”). He told Neville he would have given his failed potion to his toad, Trevor, so that the fatal effects of the potion would teach him a lesson. He bullied Neville to the point that he was literally his greatest fear - Neville’s parents were tortured to the point of insanity by Bellatrix, yet Snape was his greatest fear. He also condoned and took part in bullying when Draco cursed Hermione’s teeth to grow. He said he didn’t see any difference, then watched as she ran off crying. From the very start he starts bullying Harry: he perfectly knew he was raised by muggles, he knew how Petunia was and still went on to ask questions that he wouldn’t be able to answer. And after calling Neville and idiot for a mistake that anyone could have made he took points from Gryffindor because Harry didn’t tell him how to do it right - great teaching strategy, let’s nominate him for Most Valuable Teacher. Harry had nothing to do with what went on during Snape’s school years, but he physically resembled James and he was his son, so let’s bully him from the very first second! And honestly, asking an 11 years old Muggle-raised kid the difference between monskshood and wolfsbane in front of everyone on the first day? There is no difference! They are colloquial terms for the same plant. He just wanted the intellectual upper hand over a goddamn little kid. But he didn’t stop there: that resentful git always tried to blame Harry for something even without proof (as most of the time), and he physically abused Harry because he was angry (“Snape threw Harry from him with all his might. Harry fell hard onto the dungeon floor.”). He knew how important it was for Harry to learn Occlumency and he stopped giving him classes and later ignored when Lupin asked him to start them again even when he knew how poorly Harry’s progressed. And he was cruel: he knew Harry was sad about Sirius’ death, and gave him a detention in which he was going to see his and his father’s names multiple times while copying out old detention records. Yes, Harry’s deeds should have called for expulsion, as McGonagall states, but Snape chose something more painful than that. Not only he punished Harry (don’t get me wrong, he almost killed Draco, he deserved detention if not expulsion), but he chose to inflict him more pain and at the same time tried to ruin the memory of Harry’s father figures. Ordinarily, copying out old detention records wouldn’t be worse than writing lines, but Snape vindictively tailored that detention to inflict pain.  In addition to this, he could have been an awesome teacher if he wasn’t a disgusting waste of a human being. He knew from his teen years that the instructions that the textbooks were giving were not as goos as they could be so he improved the potions and recorded his own methods at 16. Harry himself states what an amazing teacher “the Prince” is. If Snape were not such a horrible person, he could have either written the entire textbooks himself, or taught his students his own alternate methods. Instead he spent his time bullying children. He could have been great and become everything a Slytherin should have been

Snape also saw his friends perform Dark Magic on Mary Macdonald and when confronted by Lily, literally didn’t see any problem with it and compared it with the Marauders’ pranks.

He called Lily, his supposed best friend, a Mudblood. Then he tried to get away with it by saying he didn’t mean it and that she (and only she) was different from the other Muggleborns. And Lily tried, she tried to tell him he was not on the right path, she tried, and she got called a racial slur from the person she trusted the most at the time. And, for the extremist Snape apologetics in the back, who even hate Lily (how can they hate on Lily I don’t know, but apparently these people exist too): Lily Evans did not owe anyone anything. She had the right to cut ties with her friends for any reason she pleased, whatever that’s because she was sick of them or because they were hanging out with a group of terrorists wannabe. She did not owe anyone her love, loyalty or energy. She tried to be Snape’s friend despite his other group of friends (“but Mulciber’s and Avery’s idea of humor is just evil. Evil, Sev. I don’t understand how you can be friends with them”), but there’s canon evidence that Snape chose his Death Eaters friends over Lily’s friendship and safety. It was her choice to cut ties with him after what he and his friends had done (and the racial slur of course, truly a touch of class), and it’s not like he was a good friend to begin with: he called all other Muggleborns “Mudblood” and was canon friends with the people who wanted Lily and other Muggleborns killed, and he even still wanted to be a Death Eater while being her friend. Like, wait here while I go out and slaughter your people, Lils! And if Snape stans are still arguing that he was suffering because he got dumped, that’s another no: he did not get dumped, she just didn’t have romantic feelings for him but was trying so hard to be his friend and he was just a whiny baby about it. Is that a crime? No, it isn’t. Is not getting over it and taking it out on countless kids who weren’t even born instead a crime? Yes, it is.

Also, from the get-go we see him drop a tree branch on Petunia. That shows that he didn’t see a problem in hurting the people Lily loved (seen later in a larger proportion, that’s his tag line). Lily loved her sister, but Petunia was an obstacle between her and Snape, hence, Snape hurt her. And no, that was not accidental underage magic, just as Lily performs magic on the flower, Snape uses magic to cause a tree branch to fall on Petunia. Even as a child he had no qualms about hurting someone Lily loved, this really serves to underscore the idea that Snape, with his so called love for Lily, was not invested in her happiness or wellbeing because he didn’t care about the people she loved. As a child he didn’t care about hurting her sister and at 20 he didn’t care about the imminent deaths of her husband and son. If he truly loved and cared for her, he would have wanted to see her happy. Not even considering how crushed she would have been if her husband and only child were dead, and she was left alone and pregnant in the middle of a war.

Okay so now let’s talk about James. Yes, James was a spoiled brat, and Lily hated him for that, then guess what? He matured, he started protecting the weaker ones and joined the Order along with Sirius, Remus and Lily to fight for a better world. He didn’t hold it against her nor did he sulk for days, he grew up and matured because he was a well adjusted human, unlike some. James Potter was many things other than an “arrogant bullying toerag” (hey, also, well done for trying to destroy a 15-year-old orphan’s memory of his heroic father): he was a friend who risked his life every month for Remus’s safety and comfort. A brother who took Sirius in and was “the best friend he ever had.” An adored friend of half-giant Hagrid, in an age when all “half-breeds” were looked upon with suspicion during the war. An all time “favourite student” of Minerva McGonagall, so much that she waited all day at his son’s future home and wept at his death. A savior of his enemies even when they were trying to expose his friends’ secrets. An activist protecting the right of existence for Muggles, Muggleborns and hybrids right out of school. A soldier who faced Voldemort three times and lived to tell about it. A caring father who went into hiding to protect his son. A loving husband who sacrificed his life for his family. A faded trace of magic still trying to guide his son when the man that killed him returned to life. A young man that inspired so much loyalty in his friends that Remus Lupin, who so feared the idea of harming people because of his condition, was 100% willing to abandon those morals to avenge his death, and would have done so, had Harry not reminded him and Sirius that James would not have wanted them to murder anyone for him. A Patronus helping Harry through his darkest moments until the very end.  James had a friend facing bigotry and he became an illegal animagus to help make that friend’s life better. Snape had a friend facing bigotry and he joined up with the bigots. No one is trying to pretend that James was an angel, but he got better and better until his last breath. And again, that spoiled brat and the love of his life joined the resistance and were martyrs. James, Lily, Sirius and Remus all died for Harry. Are you trying to blame James and Lily for sacrificing their own lives to save their infant son? What terrible parents they were! Their sacrifice was an act of love and wait… actually ended up saving the Wizarding World. The only thing James and Snape had in common was that they would have both sacrificed James’s life in order to save Lily’s. James was the hero, he was the one who faced Voldemort without his wand (pretty dumb thing but he was a Gryffindor, hence no surprise) in order to give his wife and son more time to flee. When he opened that door on Halloween, he thought he was sacrificing his life so that they could live. He literally died wandless perfectly knowing he wouldn’t survive, but facing death for those he loved, hoping he would be able to stall enough time so they could escape. He was never more dedicated in anything in his short life than he was to the loves of his life: he died for Lily and Harry, and would have happily died for Sirius, Remus and Peter. And this is absolutely canon, of course it is: we might not have some explicit description of him but all we know comes from the lives he touched, how they talked / not talked about him, the pain they felt - the seven books are a testament of James and Lily’s love. James Potter was the kind of person that would have been happy to die for love, he would have taken pride in that. How do we know that? Are we making this up? No, we are not: all we have are the words of people who knew him, from his best friends to McGonagall, and who remembered him as a hero. This, albeit indirectly, speaks volume about the kind of person he was. He might have been obnoxious and arrogant as a teenager, but at 21 he died a hero - wandless, alone, betrayed, hopeless, but also bravely and out of love - and nothing can change either of those. Yes, he bullied Snape (let’s be clear here even though I highly doubt Snape did not retaliate) and that is a disgusting attitude. But how can you forgive a 31 year old man for bullying his kids and not a 15 year old boy who bullied one of his definitely not innocent classmates? Who matured and who later died, at the young age of 21, for his wife and son? How can you hate James Potter when as soon as he graduated, he was ready to fight a war against the most powerful wizard of his age? Yes, he had a big head and I am fairly certain he did actually strut - and let’s just take a moment to remember why Harry doesn’t know anything about him… oh, right, Snape went to Voldemort and told him about the prophecy - but he was a caring person, who stood up to what he thought and stood up for his friends and his family. The spoilt boy Snape’s apologetics hate, who grew up to be a great man, who died fighting and protecting, not some emo with a crush and an ego the size of the Great Lake!  Wait, I hear somebody trying to bring up the “we have no real evidence of him becoming a better person” thing. Let me get this straight: James was mentioned to have jinxed other students, not to have bullied them. He did not pick out targets, it was implied to be done at random as it is explicitly stated that he jinxed random people in the corridors. Fred and George pranked other students in the same way, and they would have often have more disastrous effects, but no one calls them bullies. We know that on one known occasion attacks Snape with Sirius at his side and almost pantsed him with a spell of Snape’s own invention. James and Snape had a rivalry, and it was two-sided. It wasn’t James relentlessly hexing poor, innocent Snape, so if you still want to call James Potter a bully, okay, do it, he was a bully bullying a bully. The evidence speaks for itself: he was Head Boy in 7th year (hence I don’t think Dumbledore despised him that much), he was unapologetically a blood traitor, he dated Lily Evans (who hated him for how he was and would have never fallen in love with such a brat, so it’s pretty evident he did actually change), he joined the Order of the Phoenix (an anti-terrorist organisation, at the peak of the war, as a teenager, whereas someone else joins a racist dark cult), he died protecting his wife and child! And if we really, really want to bring the ‘evidence’ thing up… well, we have no evidence he bullied Snape, except for one little incident - I’m fairly certain he did, but let’s play it literally now. And since we are there, we may not have been blessed with more about the Marauders, but Sirius and Remus both tell Harry Lily changed his mind about James because he became a better person, why don’t Snape stans consider that an evidence pro James but “Snape’s worst memory” is their pro Snape pamphlet? That chapter showed us an incident where both Sirius and James were assholes but everyone that was there supported it but Lily. All the other Students supported it because of what the fandom conveniently forgets that Snape loved Dark Arts, disparagingly called Lily a Muggle twice, tried to expose Remus and run around with a group of Death Eater wannabes tormenting Muggleborns all through his school years (he literally says that torturing Mary Macdonald was funny - “That was nothing, it was a laugh, that’s all”), to the point where Lily’s friends and herself questioned their friendship: “none of my friends can understand why I even talk to you. I’ve made excuses for you for years.” And eventually, when questioned by Lily if he wanted to join Voldemort, he couldn’t find any way to lie to her: “you and your precious little Death Eater friends— you see, you don’t even deny it! You don’t even deny that’s what you’re all aiming to be! You can’t wait to join You Know Who can you?”. He literally didn’t find anything wrong with Voldemort’s political position (only the fact that he wanted to kill his obsession, he only had that so called change of heart when it personally affected him as his beloved Dark Lord wanted to kill the object of his lust). So yes, he did join the Death Eaters because he wanted to and was everything he’d always desired. Does this make him a bad person? HELL YES.  

And wait, can somebody remind me why the Potters were forced to hide? Wow, it must have been because Snivellus dearest spilled the tea to his master. So basically it went like this: “Hey Dark Lord! Our adorable group of racists kills Mudbloods for fun, but there’s this filthy Muggle born I fancy, can you please kill her husband and baby so that I can have her?” How the hell could he think Lily could have ever forgiven him? He was totally fine with Dumbledore saving Lily but not her husband and infant son (see how deeply he cared about Lily’s happiness?) and only cared for him being the rebound. James and Harry were totally expendable but hey, bravest man ever known!  

So yes, he protected Harry (in his very own and questionable way, he did), but I’m sorry, that’s not enough. However, before someone says “in the end he cared about Harry” let me say a big, important fact: NAH HE DIDN’T. And not only he didn’t, but he also openly states that: in the Deathly Hallows chapter with the Pensieve, Snape describes Harry as selfish, self-important and arrogant - does it matter than all the other teachers like him and see none of those things? Of course not. And he’s not talking about sassy 4th-6th year Harry (who I really thank for that “there's no need to call me "sir" Professor” gem): Snape is tasing about an 11 year old who was picked on his whole life, who never had a family of his own and who lived in a cupboard under the stairs. He’s a child, an orphan (now tell me what’s that heroic about tormenting an orphan). However, Snape had decided that Harry must be bad news from the start, so he reasonably spends six years making his life as difficult as possible. That’s a great way to honour Lily’s memory, right? Do Snape stans remember what their hero answered when Dumbledore asked if he had grown to care for the boy, after all? He literally shouted “for him?” before casting a Patronus (a little over obsessive too). He felt he owed it to Lily to make sure Harry survives, and for Merlin’s sake, he did! He went to Voldemort and basically condemned the Potters. I’m not saying he is THE reason why they died, that honour goes to the lurid latrine rat, but he is one of them. Protecting Harry was the least he could do. Switching allegiances doesn’t cancel the awful actions before Lily’s death, as much as taking advantage of his position can’t be justified by his loyalty to Dumbledore. And most importantly, he cannot be redeemed by his stalkerish obsession for Lily (or by the creepy ‘look at me I want to die looking into your mother’s eyes,’ ew). All he did was made out of selfishness, even in his quest to redeem himself. Snape had a chance to honour Lily's memory, and disregarded it every single day. He claimed to regret his past, yet his cruelty to Harry was persistent and immature. Plus, loving someone doesn’t redeem terrible deeds. He aligned himself with a terrorist organisation who murdered for sport entirely of his own volition, endorsed the torture of Muggleborns, but of course, what a hero! I will never understand how people continue to use Snape’s obsession with Lily and ‘protecting’ Harry thing as an excuse for all the pain and terror that he inflicted upon small children. Does that mean you’ll excuse a father who continuously hit and emotionally abused his child and made their life a living hell if his excuse was “well I was still protecting them they had their dead mother’s eyes”? This is SICK.

And if you can still argue that “he had a terrible childhood,” that is inarguable, however, it just cannot justify him. Remus was bitten when he was 4, he had no friends until he was 11, lived in constant fear that he was going to be outed as a Werewolf, was forced to turn into a monster every month, lost everyone he loved and lived in poverty for 14 years and still managed to be a decent person. Luna watched her mother die, was picked on by almost everyone, was treated as a freak and only had one friend until she was 14 and still managed to be a decent person. Ginny was literally possessed by Voldemort himself for almost a year, guess what? Decent person too. Neville was constantly told how worthless he was, lived knowing his parents were tortured to insanity and was bullied and belittled by everyone. Decent person? Yes, right again. And do we want to talk about THE lonely kid who was abused his entire life? Sirius was raised and abused by blood supremacists, was disowned by his family, framed for murder (of his best friends, for Merlin’s sake!) and literally lost almost everyone he loved and still managed to be a decent person. He couldn't help the way he was? The environment around him conditioned him to be that way? If I remember correctly, Harry was raised by neglectful relatives, wore ill-fitting clothes, felt inadequate among his peers… Harry is proof that a terrible childhood doesn’t excuse despicable behaviour.

So, Snape hated Neville because he could have been the Chosen One instead of Harry (but it’s definitely on him for going to Voldemort and condemning the Potters), he hated Harry because he was James’s copy and he hated Hermione because she was a Mudblood and brilliant as Lily was. Makes sense, again, and again, it stresses how much of a beautiful person and teacher he was, don’t you think so? Also, had Voldemort picked Neville to kill instead of Harry, Snape would still be a Death Eater. It’s not like he thought being part of a group of supremacists and terrorists was wrong. It wasn’t until something directly affected him that he turned his back to his master - so brave, right? Snape may have done some good for the Wizarding World when he joined the Order, but while he was alive, he was horrible. He wasn't fighting the good fight because he couldn't possibly imagine a world where Voldemort was in charge (honestly, he couldn't have cared less), he was doing it to spare Lily’s life and get her for himself. James and Lily fought for the light because they believed in the light. Snape fought against the dark because the dark had offended him. Had Voldemort gone after the Longbottoms instead, Snape would have lived and died as the most loyal Death Eater in history.

Wait, I hear a “there’s no evidence that Snape voluntarily murdered anyone in his entire life” over there! He joined a group whose aim was genocide and was actually one of the few members which were part of the inner circle of Death Eaters, he didn’t get there by throwing kisses and rose petals around. It is explicitly said that not all Death Eaters actually bore the mark. Only selected wizards can be part of Voldemort’s circle, and not only Snape was part of that circle during the First Wizarding War, but it is also heavily implied that he passed messages from Voldemort more than once. Plus, he was also able to speak directly to Voldemort and even ask him to spare Lily’s life. Voldemort actually told Lily to move over three times before killing her, and he didn’t do that because he had such a kind heart and wanted to spare a Muggleborn’s life, he did that because Snape begged him. And maybe we haven’t read the same books, but it’s not like Voldemort strolled along Diagon Alley offering favours to random people. In addition to this, Snape did most certainly kill someone since Dumbledore compares Draco’s soul to his, meaning he has done remorseless acts of great evil before, hence his soul was already damaged, unlike Draco’s. So please, stop saying Snape was somehow influenced into joining the Death Eaters and never committed any crime: he fully believed in what they pledged and actually longed about being one of them for years (according to Lily). No one manipulated him into joining said group nor into perpetrating crimes. And no one manipulated him into being a horrible person even after he “switched sides.” He’s the one who willingly decides to be a terrorist, he’s the one who willingly decides to abuse children half his age, and he’s the one having the nerve to be awful to Harry when he’s the reason why Harry doesn’t have any parents.

And he was so childish and cruel! He threw a tantrum after discovered he was getting an Order of Merlin and wasn’t going to see Remus and Sirius in jail (even though he knew they were innocent).

There we go: HE KNEW SIRIUS WAS INNOCENT (don’t try to deny it, he was part of the inner circle of Death Eaters, he perfectly knew Sirius was not the one selling the Potters to Voldemort)! Did this matter for him? Of course not! And was Snape cruel and abusive to Harry because he blamed himself for Lily’s death and Harry was a constant reminder of his guilt? Yes, he was. But you know who else blamed himself for the Potters’ deaths and also was constantly reminded of them by Harry, and yet, did not abuse him because of his guilt? That’s right, Sirius. Sirius whose death was indirectly caused by Snape who kept making fun of him for being locked in Grimmauld Place. Sirius who had no problems breaking out of Azkaban, all he had to do was turn into a dog and leave. He could have left anytime he wanted to over those twelve years but he didn’t. You know why? Because he thought he deserved to be there. It was his fault his friends were dead. Everyone could blame him all they wanted with false accusations and it didn’t matter, since to him, changing Peter to the Secret Keeper, he was guilty for his friends’ death and deserved to be in Azkaban. He only broke out when he knew Harry was in danger after seeing that filthy rat on the newspaper. And when he broke into Hogwarts? Do people remember those lines: Hermione said “It’s very lucky he picked tonight, you know,” to which Ron responded “I reckon he’s lost track of time, being on the run. Didn’t realise it was Halloween.” Please, of course he realised it was Halloween, he perfectly knew that. He went after Peter on the anniversary of James and Lily’s death to revenge them and to save his godson. Sirius might have strut as much as James during his teens but again, he turned out to be a decent person.

And think about Harry, a 17-year-old grown up in an abused “family” (and still managed to be a decent person too): he has no memories of his parents, the only thing remained is a photograph. A photograph of a happy little family, showing James and Lily in love with the fruit of their love. Snape found it and ripped off and stole the half with Lily smiling so he could pretend her happiness and love were directed at him and not at her husband and son (yes, people, that disgusting moment actually existed, and it was so creepy Yates couldn’t put it in the movies). He stole Lily’s picture and Lily’s last words from Sirius, a friend she loved, the Potters’ best man, James’ brother. How nasty. What can I say, at least he waited until after Sirius’ death to go to Grimmauld Place and raid his bedroom?

Lovely Snivellus, such a cupcake, also laughed and mocked Tonks when her Patronus changed when she fell in love with Remus (let’s also remember that Tonks’s one was not the same as Remus’s, as stated by Rowling, before Snape stans can accuse me of applying double standards: Remus’s Patronus was a regular wolf, and okay Harry is oblivious at times, but he would have recognised a regular wolf) despite the fact that his own changed to match Lily’s - let’s just remember that THIS is obsessive behaviour, whilst James and Lily’s Patroni represent them being soulmates. Snape’s Patronus does not honour Lily, stop considering this the greatest romantic moment of all times, it does not show virtue nor morality, it’s just the representation of his creepy fascination with necrophilia. It’s disgusting, not noble. His so called love for Lily is creepy. She found happiness with another man, yet Snape was possessive, manipulative, and inarguably obsessive. And let’s remember that J.K. Rowling said that “he thought Lily would find him impressive if he became a real Death Eater”… was he really her best friend or was he just completely blinded by his attraction to the dark side? This is not a redemptive love, this is problematic, toxic, abusive, emotionally-stunted, obsessive.

This is because there was never a love triangle and that’s why there is simply NO Team Snape! Not winning at the genetic lottery doesn’t justify being such an awful person! Also, THIS is why the tag line should be changed from “always” to “Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! I'll hold him off!” or to “until the very end” because a father’s eternal love for his son is much more important than a racist’s obsession of a dead woman (dead because he contributed to her death, to be precise). His always and doe patrons can’t get him out of this one. Eventually, let’s remember J.K. Rowling’s dedication in Deathly Hallows: “[…] to you, if you have stuck with Harry until the very end.” Not “always” nor creepy moaning, just the pure words of a hero, of a loving father who died protecting the ones he loved most. 

Now, I don’t get why we should celebrate Snivellus as the hero of Slytherin and an example of the “not all Slytherins are evil” when Regulus Black died in a cave, drowned by reanimated corpses to bring about the downfall of Voldemort, and Narcissa Black straight up lied to Voldemort because she’s first and foremost a mother, ruthless in doing whatever it took to save her beloved son. Regulus and Narcissa were brave: despite their flaws they knew what mattered the most and they were two big key factor in Harry’s survival and Voldemort’s demise. Sure, Snape was among the three that deceived the Dark Lord, but whilst Regulus did it because he realised what was right and what wasn’t, and Narcissa did it because of love, putting her family first (plus, she wasn’t even a Death Eater, and this tells a lot about her, as her loyalties solely lie with her family), Snape did it because resentfulness. Sure, Regulus joined the Dark Eaters of his own free will and Narcissa did what she did only after having her family threatened, but since one of Snape stans’ major point in his defence is his family being abused, let’s take their family into consideration too. The Blacks were pureblood supremacist, they grew up within that establishment and yes, some members of the family rejected those arguable ‘values’ but not everyone has the courage to do that (also, every Black family member is indisputably a badass, don’t get me started on that). On the contrary, Snape was a half-blood, and still, ended up hating muggleborns - yes, don’t try to say he didn’t, he joined the Death Eaters because he believed in Voldemort’s cause. He disparages mud bloods, he joins in on their massacre as a Death Eater after having idolised them for years in school before actually joining them. Read this again: he idolised a group of pureblood supremacist, he actively helps orchestrate genocide against the muggleborns. And what is his Freudian excuse? He believed that, in so far as Halfblood, he had to ‘prove’ that he was magical and capable enough (does this remind you of somebody else who hated muggles albeit being a half-blood and eradicates his whole Muggle family?), you can see that in how he strived to highlight his maternal Prince lineage in his stupid nickname. And no, now don’t try to blame the Marauders’ behaviour for this: Severus Snape, the man you glorify, hated muggleborns and went out of his way to commit genocide against them. So, in the end, if you still deny that, despite it being clear in the books, you are being dishonest. If, on the contrary, you fully realise it and still glamorise Snape despite how horrible of a person he was, well Snape stans, you have sunk to a new low. I’m not trying to justify anyone who supported said supremacist beliefs, but at least Regulus and Narcissa were born and bred within one of the Sacred 28, those beliefs were instilled in them from the very beginning, Snape reached them all on his own (well done for embracing your nazi self Snivellus). Regulus turned his back on Voldemort as soon as he realised how wrong he had been: at age 18, he literally sacrificed himself to try and stop his master. Narcissa, on the other hand, never sworn loyalty to Voldemort: she was a pureblood elitist, yes, she was guided by pride, but she was also calm, rational and restrained where her sister was crazed and her husband was reckless. So… Regulus faced death in the hope that when when the time had come, Voldemort would have met his match and would have been mortal once more, and Cissy only wanted best for her family and did everything she could to protect her son. She perfectly knew that Voldemort could have easily killed her in a second, but she wanted to find Draco, kept a straight face as the strong woman she was and fooled the Dark Lord. And why did Snape deceive Voldemort? Oh, right, he told him the prophecy that eventually led to the killing of the woman he was obsessed with (and no, again, he did not care at all about her husband and baby), this, of course after asking him to spare her life so that he could have had her (so this is, once again, classic Snivellus holding grudges). Regulus and Narcissa are pretty much the epitome of Slytherin, and still, let’s celebrate Snape! As a Slytherin myself, I am utterly disgusted by Snape’s behaviour. He could have been an amazing teacher, he had the talent to be one of the greatest Potions masters ever, and he willingly chose to throw it away in favour of being awful for the sake of bullying his own pupils. If we have to pick characters who proved that not all Slytherins are evil, let’s look at Regulus, let’s look at Narcissa, let’s look at Slughorn and Andromeda. Slughorn fought against Voldemort during the Battle of Hogwarts and refused to become a Death Eater, Andromeda married a Muggleborn. And guess what? None of them bullied children for 15 years.

Then, for the “I sometimes think we Sort too soon” thing… no, just no. Before you can start yelling at me, I am not, I repeat, I am absolutely not saying this because I endorse the whole Gryffindor being saints thing. I am a Slytherin, and a proud one. I just don’t agree that Snape was brave. Is being a resentful, childish and abusive man being brave? Wow, I’ll have to refresh my vocabulary!  It is not brave to bully your pupils for years because you lost your loved one, it is not brave to refuse to accept a woman loves somebody else and moves on, it is not brave to keep a childhood grudge against that someone because they ‘stole’ the so called love of your life, it is not brave to try to destroy an orphan’s image of their heroic father. Snape was burned Lily had chosen James over him, so burned that, fuelled by jealousy and envy (and by his pretty questionable ideals too, because it’s too convenient to forget he is 100% a Death Eater and hence a supporter of Voldemort’s lovely view for the Wizarding World), he struck out and ended up getting Lily killed. I don’t consider playing the martyr by “teaching” (if we really want to call that teaching instead of child abuse) and being an occasional spy being brave. I call it feeling guilty, I call it ‘I deserve to suffer for hurting Lily but I still choose to bully her own son instead of honouring her,’ I call it ‘I keep on tormenting an orphan because I hated his father and he looks too much like him, plus, he has his mother’s eyes so I’m constantly remembered of 1) Lily choosing James over me and 2) Lily dying because of me telling my beloved Dark Lord the prophecy.’ Any protection Snape offered Harry, he did it because of his penance, not because protecting him (and hence stopping Voldemort) was the right choice. Wow, how brave of him. I don’t think Snape could have been a Gryffindor at all, and I hated how David Yates (again, very conveniently for his martyr business) placed the Gryffindor scarf hanging up in the background in Snape’s death scene as a nod to his supposed bravery. Like, really?! Even if you really want to call him brave, he’s still an awful person who shouldn’t have been allowed to teach because of how abusive he was, an awful person who was a member and supporter of a supremacist, racist and violent sect, an awful person who caused the death of innocent people - and I could go on and on. You can’t let a few good deeds outweigh all the bad! It’s not like some potion or Imperius Curse made him join the Death Eaters, spill the tea about the prophecy and terrorise those children. He willingly chooses to do that because he was an awful person until the very end. And still, Snape apologists be like “the conclusion of his arc is that abusing your position of power over children is forgivable if you stalked one of their parents when you were a teen.” Again, sick.

Snape’s portrayal in the movies is entirely fan-service throughout the whole series of films, but especially in DH part 2: they never showed Sirius arriving at the Potters the night Lily and James died, they never showed the moment his whole world collapsed when he saw the corpses of his best friends, the moment he blamed himself for what had happened. No, we got an entirely made-up (and creepy) scene of Snape getting there, holding Lily’s body and crying when that never happened! We also never got a scene with Sirius and Remus evidently struggling to hold it together while they tell Harry about James, how he changed and how Lily fell in love with him. Their pain would have shown how much James had an impact on their lives, for the better, but of course, we only got a partial rendition of Snape’s worst memory, with careful cuts of course, they couldn’t say he didn’t find anything wrong with the torture of Muggleborns, right?

You can like Snape, sure, he’s a flawed character with an interesting past, but he’s not a hero, stop portraying him as such instead of what he really was: an abusive, creepy, racist man. You are allowed to like villains (who doesn’t?) but stop praising him! You don’t have to justify his actions because you like him: he was awful, recognise it.

Do we (still) need to talk about double standards? Well, there we go: people hate Lavender Brown and Cho Chang. Fair enough, pretty annoying girls if you want to hear me, but why do they get hate? They get hate for how they handle their feelings: Lavender gets hate for how she handles her unrequited romantic feelings, and Cho gets hate for crying and grieving over the death of her boyfriend. Does this sound like a thread to you? With the sole difference that they get more hate than Snape and this is disturbing and honestly just sick. He is a terrorist, he literally moans the entire series and abuses and terrorises children because he couldn’t have Lily but hey, misunderstood hero!

Stop romanticising Snape: the only reason why people love him is Alan Rickman, and all of this hatred is just a pathetic way of trying to cover up that James grew up while Snape didn’t. How can people glorify and stand up for a man who canonically is a vindictive bully? To be honest, I’m genuinely concerned for people who over romanticise such a man. Correct me if I’m wrong: do you see anyone sticking up for the Dursley’s or Umbridge, when they do basically the same stuff to Harry as Snape? How is Necrophilus any different? I will never regard him as a hero for as long as I am alive, however, the movies conveniently cut those parts where Snivellus was the half princey of baddies, right? Also, I really wish Sirius could have found out about this lovely nickname Snape gave himself as a teenager, that alone would have cured his depression, post traumatic stress disorder and alcoholism, this is a real tragedy.

Severus Snape did not die for love. He died because Voldemort thought hew was the true Elder Wand owner. I repeat: he did not die for love. Period.

He raised a wand to McGonagall!

Avada

Kedavra

[redvoid-40]

In the woods there grew a tree - part 3

So, now we have a part three for this thing...

Did I finally figure out what I’m doing? Not in the slightest! But writing this little family-drama with mom Angor Rot sparks lots of joy in me, and I hope it does the same for someone else out there. :)

As always, hope you enjoy and let me know what you think of it! :D

Previous chapter / Next chapter

Angor Rot was whistling a little song for himself as he carved a large totem by himself. He had been working on this particular golem for almost a whole moon now; it was an ambitious project that took much of him - literally. He even took to wearing a leather vest while he healed from the large chunk of living stone he had to tear off his chest to build this totem. While little Charo had grown used to his missing pieces, an area as big as the one he took this time was bound to worry her.

The little girl was out with Veena, a female River Troll who sometimes visited their village. Like all River Trolls, Veena was elusive, preferring the solitude of her soft waters to the busy village, but she came around every once in a while to check their market and play with Charo. Ever since she was a baby, Charo had won over the kind troll’s core - much like she had done his - and she always loved to go explore the riverbeds with her.

It took Angor some time to get used to it, but after eight years he grew to trust the River Troll to care for Charo as he would. It was good for the girl to learn how to swim and fish, and Veena was the best instructor there was. Also, it allowed Angor some much needed time for himself.

Which he was using to build Charo a Golem.

Wizards have familiars to help them and keep them safe. Magic as she is, why can’t Charo have one?

Angor couldn’t go around looking for a dragon or chimera for the little human, but he could do the next best thing. He could carve her one from his own living stone. A piece of him to keep watch over her when he was not around.

With a final slash of his knife, Angor was done. Smiling, he raised the large totem to his eye.

It was in the shape of a crow, as big as his head. Angor had carved the totem in great detail, imbuing as much of his magic as he could, be it in the form of runes he wrote all over it or in the warm piece of his core stone he had put inside it.

Satisfied with his work, Angor Rot made his way deeper into their cave. A while ago he had found a large deposit of corundum stone in their home. It was a good, hard stone.

It would make perfect flesh for Charo’s familiar.

---

The moon was still high in the sky when Veena brought Charo back to Angor Rot’s village. The little girl had a head of soaked hair and a big smile on her face as she ran inside the cave, clumsily carrying a fish that was almost as tall as she was. She had fished a large carp tonight, and she was eager to show it to Angor and ask him to cook it for her.

More slowly because of her enormous size, Veena followed the girl inside. The Troll Village was mostly safe for Charo, but, like Angor, the River Troll still didn’t like to leave Charo anywhere but under her guardian’s care. As Venna reached the edge of the village Charo was already halfway across it, the large fish’s tail leaving wet markings on stone as it dragged over the ground.

“Dad!” Charo called out, even though Angor Rot was nowhere in sight. “Look what Veena and I caught! Dad!”

Excusing herself with little grunts, Veena tried to carve a way for her among the trolls around, watching Charo’s shape grow smaller the further she got from her. It was a good thing she was a River Troll; her height allowed her the advantage to watch over the little girl at all times.

And from that advantage point she saw, clear as day, a troll stuck his foot out in front of the little girl. Fast as she was, and with the large fish impairing her sight, Charo tripped over it at full-speed. Veena let out a disgruntled noise as the little girl let out a startled scream and took flight. The troll tried to charge forward, but she was much too large and Charo was much too far for her to reach her before she hit the ground.

However, out of one of the cavern’s many tunnels something flew by. Speedy and sleek as a shadow, it darted towards the girl, grabbing the back of her sweaty shirt and hauling her up in the air.

It was a sort of... crow. But made of stone. The creature cawed once, bright blue eyes looking down at the little girl in its talons as it gently lowered her to the ground.

Wide-eyed, Veena moved faster, and when she reached the little girl, she was staring at the creature with wonder in her big eyes. Hugging the fish to her chest with just one arm, she reached a hand towards the creature. The crow perched itself on her arm, butting its small, stone head against her softly. Its eyes seemed to glow even brighter at the touch.

Charo let out a delighted giggle, turning bright eyes to Veena. “Veena, look! I made a new friend!”

The River Troll made a disgruntled noise and pulled Charo in her arms, away from the creature. The stone crow didn’t seem to appreciate it, flying in front of her face to caw accusingly at her. Veena made to swat the thing away, but her arm was held in place by none other than Angor Rot.

“It’s alright, Veena.” The troll leader said as the craw settled on his shoulder. “This is my creation.”

Slowly, Veena relaxed her arms, allowing Charo to poke her head out of the protective hold.

“It’s okay, Veena!” She spoke happily. “It’s my friend! I can feel it!”

Angor Rot chuckled, and with a nod from him, Veena lowered the little girl to the ground. By now, the entire village circled them, observing the scene.

As soon as Charo’s little feet touched the ground, the crow was back on her, this time perched atop her head. It chirped once, satisfied with its spot, and the little girl giggled once again, eyes crossing as she tried to look up at it.

“His name is Corvell.” Angor Rot spoke, yellow eyes scanning all the trolls around them. His next words were loud and clear; not meant only for Charo. “I’ve carved him from my own living stone and core for you. From now on, Corvell will be your familiar. To watch over you when I’m not around.”

“That’s so cool! Nice to meet you, Corvell.” Charo spoke. Then, remembering the large fish in her eyes, she turned back to Angor Rot. “Look what we caught, dad! It’s a carp, a big one! Can we cook it tonight?”

Angor nodded, taking the fish from Charo’s struggling arms. Then his eyes moved to Veena and he smiled gratefully. “Thank you for taking care of Charo, my friend. Will you stay a little longer with us?”

Veena looked from the leader’s calm eyes to Charo’s hopeful ones and shook her head. Crowds were not for the River Troll, no matter how small they were. She much preferred the peace of her rivers and lakes.

Charo pouted, walking to hug one of her legs. “When will I see you again, Veena?”

Veena made a circle full in the air with her index finger, and Charo smiled. “Alright, next full moon. Thank you for playing with me today.”

The River Troll nodded once before walking away from them. Charo never stopped waving as she watched her leave, and even Corvell cawed twice in goodbye.

Angor laid a large head atop her head, disturbing the stone crow from its rightful place. Despite being literally made from his living stone, Corvell still cawed unhappily at the troll for his affront. It seemed one touch of Charo’s magic and the little golem was already molding its own personality.

“Now you’ll go bathe, little one. You smell like fish.”

“Yes, dad.”

---

The trolls who distrusted Charo still found ways to try and pick on her. The mean eyes, the hurtful words and the occasional shoves still continued but, while the little girl didn’t fight back, Corvell did. And the golem - familiar Charo would tell herself, giddy with happiness - had eyes as sharp as his creator’s. He’d fly on the face of any troll that said a bad word to Charo and caw loudly at them until they left. Anyone raising a hand to “accidentally” stumble against the girl and he’d be there first, pulling her back by the shirt and out of harm’s way before pecking the offender’s hand away.

The little girl didn’t like her familiar’s combative nature, more often than not pulling it away from the offending troll as she exclaimed apologies over her shoulders to them. Charo couldn’t blame them for disliking her. She was human after all, and more than once humans drove them away from their homes with their unquenchable thirst for power and land. She was young and didn’t understand much, but she understood that humans were cruel and selfish.

Humans had abandoned her, leaving her to die in the woods as a baby.

“Not that it matters anymore, right Corvell?” Charo spoke. Corvell and she were at the cavern’s entrance, playing stones as they waited for Angor Rot to finish his assembly with the other trolls so they could go set wards around the forest. “I love it here. I have dad and you, and Veena. Most trolls here are so nice too, especially when I give them my old socks to eat. Even the gnomes play with me sometimes. I’m better here than I could ever be at a human village.”

Corvell chirped his agreement as he flew in circles above Charo. The little girl smiled, using her magic to make hoops of stone in the air for her familiar to fly through. It was a little game that improved Corvell’s agility and Charo’s skill with magic.

“Charo? Are you ready, little one?”

The little girl lost her focus, and the hoops fell into pieces in front of her. Sighing at her lack of control she turned around to see Angor emerge from the cavern’s entrance with an oil-lamp in his hand. Hopefully she’d do better with setting wards.

“Yes, dad,” She said as Corvell lowered itself to fly closer to ground-level. “Corvell and I are ready.

Angor smiled and stretched his free hand for the girl to take it.

Hand in hand, they walked into the dark woods.

[aparecium-hq]

Welcome to Aparecium, Wes! You have been accepted for Albus Potter with your planned faceclaim. We love the way you’ve crafted Albus to go against the grain of the rest of his family, and personally I loved your writing sample in particular. We can’t wait to see him around! Check out the new member checklist, and jump right in. 

Character Basics

               Age: 21 years old

               Birthdate: 15 March 2006

               Pronouns: He/Him

               Sexuality: Homosexual, homoromantic

               Blood Status: Halfblood

               Hogwarts House:  Slytherin

               Occupation: Lawclerk for the Wizengamot,

                             apprentice barrister.

               Faceclaim: Chance Perdomo

Any requested changes: Not really?  I took some liberties with the evolution in the Ministry and the apprenticeship for becoming a lawyer.  I figured it would be something of a long process with a lot of work in the guild system rather than going off to law school?  But I’m most interested to know if we need to tweak anything.

Biography:

The middle Potter, the second son of a hero, Albus Potter has lived a certain amount of his life in the public eye.  He’s always been conscious of attention, desiring it less and less as he grew older.  He finds respite in close acquaintances and good friends, small settings and familiar environments.  His family, though sometimes the very people he’s clashing with, are always his first source of solace and comfort.  Whatever tensions they might have, they’re his people.  And woe be told to anyone who crosses the line in his presence.

From a young age, Albus showed a taciturn bent and found himself at his Aunt Hermione’s side with frequency.  Books and stories became his companions as much as his brother.  And sometimes to better effect.  He devoured literature, asked his aunt and parents for lessons and primers, and had a raging row over the fact that other children could go to primary school.  He saw Hogwarts and education as the next great challenge, the next great adventure.  He saw it as where he truly belonged.

How wonderfully cruel that reality can be.

Hogwarts wasn’t the worst thing really.  It was a learning experience to be sure, in more than just the academics.  Sorted into Slytherin and falling into a different vein than his brother and father, he acquired more than a little gossip.  But Albus had been backed into an unfamiliar corner before, so he did what came naturally.  His tongue lashed, far faster than his wand ever could, and he caught trouble with it.  A black eye and a split lip were his reward, but the third year Gryffindor was on the ground and his opinion amongst his housemates was settled: he was a snake, through and through.

He learned quickly, taking in whatever he could from his housemates and classes.  He learned that his reserved nature was a gap people had to cross, that the masks he used out of indifference our out of annoyance with the press were tools at his disposal, he learned that his words were not just barbs, but arrows.  By his third year, he changed tones and temperaments like cloaks, dressing up for some and down for others.  He developed a knack for patterns that spread naturally to arithmancy while his ability to think on his feet endeared him to charms all the more.  They became his best subjects, followed rather quickly by history of magic.  Though that one?  That was a practiced study.  Especially after the Madley Properies came about.

The change of the world while he was at Hogwarts was sudden.  The access to more technology meant access to more information.  Muggle information.  Albus devoured it all, spending hours cross referencing magical history with muggle timelines, building comprehensive understanding of events and their influence on either side of the Statute of Secrecy.  How the pollical actions in the muggle world influenced the economic realities of the magically community, or how a magical malady could seep over into the muggle world and insight chaos because of the tiniest bit of other.  He learned that things were far more interconnected than most people thought.

And he realized how absolutely how absolutely mad changing anything quickly was.

He graduated with respectable marks in his favored disciplines, with his only truly problematic grade coming in Defense.  But he wasn’t looking to join his father in the Aurors.  But he had his eyes on the DMLE.  Eventually.  But first, well he needed information.  His classes were dreadfully sparse on the machinations that drove their society, and that’s what he needed to understand.  He’d never had to fake an interest in his Aunt Hermione’s work, and the right words had him there, running paper and writing briefs and other monotonous work in the danker parts of the Ministy.  But he was there.  That was the important part.  And it paid off, when two years later, the Wizengamot took advantage of his skills and put him to work as a clerk.

Now at twenty-one, Albus has become something of a fixture in the research apparatus of the magical government of England.  His pattern recall and gift for memorization has made him the place where most research inquiries start: ask Potter, he’ll point you where to start.  His analytical mind lends itself to complicated cross application of policy and precedent, and while he doesn’t have the bombastic personality of some clerks or barristers before the high wizarding court, his ability to shift gears and pull references makes him an adept ally in cross examination and questioning.

Sociability:

When he’s not picking at threads in the legal archives or catching up on muggle current events, he tries to still be there for his family and friends.  He tries to keep a social life, between work friends and his large family and the people that give him actual solace in life, he likes to think he keeps a full social calendar.  For Scorpius, his best friend and his roommate, he would literally drop the world to ash if it needed.  And he…tries not to dwell exactly on that why too close.  Somethings don’t withstand scrutiny after all.  He misses the closeness he once had with his siblings, long before Hogwarts and Madley, when things were simpler.  He does boast a large network of acquaintances that he knows only by their handle.  He took to internet culture a bit too well, making friends and associates that he only knows by online handles and pseudonyms.  Some have made the leap to personal acquaintances, especially the collection of muggles that helped him come to grips with his own burgeoning sexuality at Hogwarts, that took him to his first Pride.  He owes them quite a lot, even if they’re kept at arm’s length.

Personality:

Albus still resembles that inquisitive child he was, somewhat quieter and more reserved than his family and always searching for some new bit of information.  He’s lost some of the taciturn qualities however, finding his voice through reasoned arguments and biting wit.  He’s not afraid to speak his mind, but does try to find the path of least offense unless his ultimate goal is to cause offense and put someone on the back foot.  He wears his opinions and language like masks, speaking openly but not always directly.  It’s those that know him best, Scorpius and Rose and his closest family, that see the true Albus.  He’s a stack of books on a rainy Saturday morning, the smell of coffee and old leather in the air.  He’s a passionate debate over dry martinis, the smell of cigarette smoke mingling with gin and the buzz of conversation.  He’s warm cashmere and soft jazz while something bubbles on the stove top.  He’s good friends and late nights, fairy lights low and spirts high and flowing freely.

Appearance:

Much like he appropriated language and history from his housemates, he also picked up on their habits of dress.  Fine robes and well cut wizarding garb are key to his image at the Wizengamot.  But these days, he finds himself draping a cloak over well cut Savile Row suits in greys and blacks with stylishly bright ties in greens or violets.  Waistcoats with patterns shirts and small lapel pins that sing his causes: rainbows, circuits that spark magically, something called an x-wing.  Blazers and jeans with Doc Martens or stylish boots when he slips into muggle London for a drink or a date..  Jeans and hoodies and warm woolen jumpers round out his casual clothes.  He’s looked longingly at some jewelry the muggle university students have, all manner of piercing and decoration of ink on skin, but he’s yet to give into those temptations as they endanger the masks he needs a little too much.

Character Questionnaire (In Character):

What does your character value in a friendship?

Is it cheating to say discretion?  No?  Then that simply must be the answer.  When one grows up with a certain amount of notoriety… a name that is recognizable and splashed across the press of the realm near daily… a friend who knows when to bluff, when to keep things private is worth their weight in gold.  Quite literally.    And there is so much caught up in that word as well.  Discretion.  It’s not just secrecy.  It’s trust.  And with that I believe truly, there must be some level of affection there.  A warmth and familiarity that breed such a level of trust.  There are people for whom I have great affection, and even great trust, but for who I don’t believe are discrete.  It’s that bit extra, that pinch more wit and courage and resolve that make it the better value.

How would a stranger who has just met your character describe them?

Oh Circe, this is such a loaded question.  A stranger?  Well it really depends upon the circumstances you know.  Where are we?  Drinks is very different than a fundraiser than a friendly pick up game of Quidditch.  Though why I made mention of the last, I really haven’t a clue.  But the point remans; where did we meet?  I’d like to think that I leave people at least somewhat assured that I know what I’m talking about, even if that does mean I come off as a bit of an ass.  And as cold as it may sound, so much of this might come down to how I want them to remember me.  It changes the way one approaches a stranger, if they think it’s only for a moment or there’s something more there.  Whatever that more might be.  Well at the very least, it means I try not to burn bridges I’ve only just encountered.

What magical skill or talent is your character most proud of?

Can we consider memory a skill?  A talent?  I’m not sure it’s honed like a blade or conditioned like a muscle.  But I do think I’m very good at it.  Or with it.  Memorizing.  Recalling.  Things just sort of…stick up there.  Referenced and catalogued.  A font of utterly useless information.  But information that can be applied, brought forward when needed to dramatic effect or for some nefarious purpose.  Dreadfully useful, in work and in life.  I don’t forget birthdays.  Though I do sometimes forget to shop for them…so it’s rather an imperfect skill.  Talent.  Part of me, whatever.  

Para Sample

Albus tapped a finger against the stem of his glass slowly, letting the small sound of his nail making contact mark the time.  He’d been watching for the past half hour as patrons moved in and out of the space.  Fresh drinks, greetings, calls to join a group.  It was the happiest of hours and this particular bar was just getting started.

Then again, so was he.

It wasn’t a usual of his, though he found the ambiance quite charming.  Dark wood, shiny brass, and a Botanist martini that was so dry it could be a disaster area.  Start of a good evening.  And it put him on good footing for the chap that he was expecting.  A friend of a friend, a you-should-meet-him sort of person that did…something functionally important in Westminster.  No doubt it would be a topic of some conversation later into the evening.  Best to know enough going in to be interested, but not too much so as to be bored.  Rather like any project, dating was.

Merlin, Scor would chastise him for being so cynical and dry about it all.  He smirked into his glass.

The man that approached a bit before their appointed rendezvous was fit.  Albus raked eyes over the man, taking in the cut of his suit, the fit of his trousers, the twist of his laces.  Cambridge man.  He’d bet money on it.  Eaton too.  He saw a few coy grins flashed at other patrons, a crisp note slipped discreetly to the bartender, a lean up the rail to whisper across the bar.   Albus let his smirk grow as he finished his drink, slipping away to duck into the gents.

He dispelled the subtle notice-me-not once he was in a stall, wafting away the bits that kept him mostly undisturbed.  There was a lot you could see at happy hour after all.  People drinking too quickly, nerves when a joke failed to land, thousand-yard stares into pint glasses.  Frivolity as a mask.  Jocularity as a balm.  He checked his reflection, gave an artful tousle of his hair and straightened his tie, and slipped out with a beatific smile that never met his eyes.

Those?  He liked sharp.

[benscursedkid]

Rebekah’s Extended Family: Maternal Side

Paternal Side / Immediate

Aunt: Adelaide Leá Cordeau (née Leon)

Born: October 31st, 1947

Sign: Scorpio

House: Slytherin

Wand: Laurel Wood, Dragon Heartstring and Demiguise Hair Core, 12 ¾ Inches, Soft Flexibility

Blood Status: Pure-Blood

Occupation: Alchemy Professor at Beauxbatons Academy of Magic

Oldest of the two, Adelaide was very fond and very protective of her sister

Feared her parents, particularly her father, and therefore was more impressionable, more likely to follow orders and obey them mindlessly

Even if it was just to satiate them and keep herself out of trouble

Scared of what would happen if she disagreed with him so she let herself be manipulated

Better to safe than sorry is her motto

She used to try to appeal to her mother when she was younger but soon realized it was useless

Their mother was a numb, empty woman and advised Delphine to leave her be when she started trying to do the same

Though during summer breaks she did try as often as she could to keep her and Delphine out of the house

But at the end of the day, they always had to come back

That stuck with her

Quieter than her sister, more studious, though they shared equal ambition

Immensely skilled in Potions and Alchemy and was a star pupil in the Slug Club as a student

The only one in her family who was skilled in singing– something she loved to tease Delphine about

Her humor was a bit dry and biting, but witty and very sarcastic

You’d really never realize exactly how respectful or polite she was if you didn’t take the chance to look

She was just as kind and caring as her sister, but not as bold or as daring, and a bit tougher around the edges

Where her sister was outgoing at school and trying— whether it worked or not is another matter —to make friends, she was much more introverted and uncomfortable in the presence of people she didn’t know or couldn’t understand

Good at reading people and used that to her advantage

Tried to take as much of the trouble as she could off of Delphine when their parents got angry, but it only deepened her fear of them

Learned to confuse fear with respect because of this

These actions went unbeknownst to her sister and she liked it that way

It’s better for her not to know, she doesn’t like pity

When she graduated she was similarly married off to a French pure-blood wizard, Jacques Cordeau, who worked as an Obliviator for the French Ministry (she moved to France to accommodate his job and was hired by Beauxbatons)

Covered for her sister when she begged to have her own life for a year and was manipulated by her parents into regretting it when she ended up marrying a muggle

Ignored her entirely for a solid year until she found out Delphine was pregnant and then cut ties with her own family to try and patch things up with her little sister (successfully)

Eventually fell genuinely in love with her husband and had two children

Her niece and nephew are very important to her

Uncle (by marriage): Jacques Emile Cordeau

Born: September 16th, 1945

Sign: Virgo

School: Graduated from Beauxbatons

Wand: Vine Wood, Phoenix Feather Core, 13”, Springy Flexibility

Blood Status: Pure-Blood

Occupation: Obliviator

Grew up with a hefty family fortune

Also an only child, and it often times rendered him rather lonely

Both his parents were business people and they always seemed to not have enough time for him

Not necessarily bad parents, just absent, rather hands-off

A lot of the time when he would ask to spend time with them, they threw money at him and told him to do whatever he wants with it…

“cause that’s what you want, right?”

Suffice to say, it became a learned behavior and he grew up doing much the same thing

Turned into a bit of a loner

And very stand-offish

Came to resent his parents’ money, but because he was practically raised off of it alone he doesn’t know what he would do without it

Very used and accustomed to the classy, rich lifestyle

Doesn’t mean to be rude, but he likes compartmentalizing and prioritizing his time so he hates distractions

Graduated top of his class and gained a very respectable job at the Ministry, people were always sucking up to him

He didn’t like it much and he knew they didn’t really like or respect him just his money or his title

So to get them off his back, he did what his parents would do to him

Tried to do that to Adelaide when they got married, as arranged by their parents

She wouldn’t have it though, instead she took to ignoring him

It took a few years of a loveless marriage for them to open up to each other but they eventually got there

She saw past his face value and commended him for wanting to pursue a profession that helps people

Even if obliviator doesn’t seem like much of a “helping hand” job, Jacques takes pride in it and loves meeting new people

Especially when they don’t know who he is

Was able to see all the regrets Adelaide held in regards to her sister and the fear of her parents she kept buried inside

Had two children, after beginning their relationship a bit backwards, who he adores and absolutely coddles

Enjoys spending time with Adelaide’s family

The ‘Fun Uncle’ to which they always tease “You’re our only uncle!”

Devastated to hear about Jacob

Really thought that kid would go places

Cousin: Priscilla Eloise Cordeau

Born: May 9th, 1970

Sign: Taurus

School: Attended Beauxbatons

Wand: Yew Wood, Unicorn Hair Core, 12 ¾ Inches, Reasonably Swishy Flexibility

Blood Status: Pure-Blood

Her name is Priscilla but will cut you if you call her that

Just kidding

No I’m not

Prefers Pris

Her and her brother, at their roots, are very similar

They both love arguing and debating for fun

Thrive off proving people wrong

Have 194739201 different skills that just kinda happened

Will not hesitate to tell it like it is

The difference? Unlike Dominic she has some sense of dignity

A very classy girl

She’s respectful and polite, knows her manners, and when to hold her tongue

But cross her at your own peril

Everything she does is intentional

Every glance, smile, pat on the back, eyebrow arch is calculated

And she is good at math

But girl has a temper if you’ve ever seen one

Where her brother is more laid-back and, for all his own snark, easy-going, she’s impatient remembers things

You could say petty but she picks her battles

She won’t hold a grudge over little things or even big things so long as you aren’t a problem to her and your mistake won’t change or ruin anything in her routine or her ambitions

But she loathes incompetent and ignorant people

If you are either one of those… just stay clear

Tries to be the nice guy but she truly has little tolerance for such nuisances

Really isn’t that bad once you get to know her

But a lot of people don’t try

Most of them either think she’s really smart and hilarious with her sarcasm

Or extremely bitchy and insensitive

But she does have her redeeming qualities of course

For example, though it’s hard earned, she’s loyal to a fault and will never send any of her friends or family away if they need her

Doesn’t like most strangers or people she doesn’t know but also strangely likes giving back

Does some volunteer work just because “this world already sucks but maybe if I help it’ll be more tolerable”

That’s Pris for “I want to help”

Has a sweet tooth and a soft spot for animals of all kinds

Good with kids

Very be either really crude or extremely graceful... it’s really a coin toss as to which one in the moment

Actually loves history and can’t ever be found without a book on hand

Plays the flute and violin

Good at art and her brother hates it

Cousin: Dominic Jules Cordeau

Born: February 28th, 1974

Sign: Pisces

School: Attended Beauxbatons

Wand: Walnut Wood, Unicorn Hair Core, 11 ½ Inches, Brittle Flexibility

Blood Status: Pure-Blood

A smugly sarcastic little shit and he knows it

Can and will call you out, don’t try him

Sets insanely high expectations for himself so don’t be surprised if he exceeds yours

It’s in his nature to thrive, to be the best

I’m not really one for saying “if xyz was in Hogwarts they would be in abc house”

But this boy has Slytherin written all over him good god

Super ambitious and if he’s thinks you’re competition will cut you down

“It’s nothing personal, you’re just in my way”

Really, though, it’s not personal

At all

It actually takes a lot for him to hold a grudge and dislike a person

So it’s likely he just feels threatened if he gets aggressive with you

For all his tough talk this boy is sensitive

Hates insults and back-handed compliments unless you’re oh so clearly just teasing him and he’s 10008337% sure you’re joking

Has this kicked puppy expression but Pris (and his cousins whenever they’re around) are the only ones he’ll show it to without concern

Really athletic too and can absolutely annihilate you in Quidditch

But he just doesn’t most of the time because his grades are what really matter to him

Is either absolutely shameless or…

no that’s it

He’s just shameless

He can sing, he can dance, likely plays like seven instruments (like the cello and guitar) and speaks two languages aside from French and English, good at sports, math and literature (!?), and flirts like he doesn’t even realize he’s doing it

He doesn’t

But Merlin’s beard whatever you do, please do not give this child a pencil

Or literally anything else that leaves a mark

Absolutely terrible at art and drawing of any kind

And he knows this

And does it anyway

You’d think it wouldn’t be much of a problem when he messes around and draws dicks all over everything because really you can’t ever tell what it is

But that’s exactly why he feels the need to explain it

Chaotic Neutral and proud

Also a hardcore feminist, he drinks his respect women juice

Close with his sister and if you think they’re arguing you’re wrong

Bickering is just how they express their love

She’s a lot like him but classier™️

And she loves to remind him

Grandmother: Chanel Vivian Leon (née Sinclair)

Born: October 11th, 1921

Sign: Libra

School: Attended Beauxbatons

Wand: Pine Wood, Unicorn Hair Core, 10”, Slightly Yielding Flexibility

Blood Status: Pure-Blood

Occupation: Retired Ministry Employee

Youngest of four children, has three older brothers

Used to be close with her second brother, but then he began to socialize with muggle-borns and her parents told her he was a disgrace

Didn’t want to believe them at first

Hasn’t spoken to him since he graduated

Used to love nature and even to this day always keeps a white carnation in her room

Lost the taste for it a long time ago but can’t seem to let that habit go

Can’t really tell if she’s evil or just empty

Not much of an evil-doer herself but is definitely not one to put a stop to it

She just wants to be left alone

Altogether a mediocre human being at best

But her parents were able to get her a husband because she’s Pretty

Shouldn’t have been a wife

Definitely shouldn’t have been a mother

She kinda just sits

And wonders were the time went

How she lost her youth

Why she can’t feel anymore

When the world turned into just a million shades of grey

She’s just a little tired

Grandfather: Cado Josicaiah Leon

Born: August 1st, 1918

Sign: Leo

House: Slytherin

Wand: Red Oak Wood, Doxy Wing Core, 12 ½ Inches, Unyielding Flexibility

Blood Status: Pure-Blood

Occupation: Worked as an employee in the Department of Magic Regulation at the Ministry

Was the middle child of three kids, had an older sister and a younger brother

They’re doing well now, he thinks

Wishes he didn’t push them away in adolescence but too proud to admit it

Has a lot of regrets he’s unwilling to own up to

Became a death eater in the first war but didn’t serve a long term because he provided the Ministry with useful information on his colleagues

Didn’t learn his lesson though

The downfall of The Dark Lord only further pushes him to prove his superiority

Was a very controlling, power hungry man

Didn’t have charisma to hide it

But people respected him anyway because of his family fortune

Very classy and strict

A dictator in the house, liked having the say over his wife and children

Never bothered to hide the fact that he wished he’d had a son instead

Manipulated Adelaide consistently through her childhood and was extremely irritated Delphine seemed to not sway to his beliefs

Disowned her when she married a muggle and convinced Adelaide to do the same

Until even she betrayed him and he was left alone in his house with a wife who never loved him

Joined the Dark Lord again in the second war and got a life sentence in Azkaban that he did not get out of this time

Never met Rebekah and Jacob

Still in prison

[pettishrew]

P E T E R   P E T T I G R E W   B A C K G R O U N D

BASICS:

Name: Peter Thomas Pettigrew Age: Twenty Birthday: August 22nd Job: Obliviator w/ the Department of Magical Accident and Catastrophes House: Gryffindor 

PERSONALITY: 

+ forgiving, analytical, easy-going, optimistic    - forgiving - peter is the type of person that could be stepped one over and over again and he would forgive the person. It would be easy to say he would be bullied had it not been for the rest of the boys, but he probably wouldn’t have even considered it like that. He is so used to being the butt of the joke, or the scapegoat for a situation that he has grown very complicate and even willing falls into that role. This often makes him the best suited to be the mediator to some of the more temperamental discussions between them all.      -  analytical - although described my McGonagall as someone who was not as talented, smart, nor-popular as James and Sirius, Peter is extremely analytical. He likes to think through a situation before acting and being able to weigh and consider the various outcomes. This doesn’t mean that he is unwilling to go into risky situations, because he definitely is, but he likes to know what he stands to lose if things go sour. The world to him is a very large list of pros and cons, he is just ultimately deciding how the chips fall.     - easy-going - as personalities go Peter provides a nice contrast to the rest of the boy because he tends to go with the flow, more excited to be included than opinionated on what they should do. He tends not to harbor a lot of stress and is very passive when it comes to a variety of topics. This makes him easy to be around, and sometimes he provides more of a wall for people to talk at than someone who is actively apart of the conversation. This makes him a stellar listener and someone to confide in.      - optimistic - generally his outlook on the world leans toward the side of optimism, he likes to assure people that things are going to be all right even if it does not distinctly look like it’s going to actually be that way. This is also part of the reason he seemed to get low marks in classes because he was optimistic about the outcomes without always putting in the effort or work to receive a higher one. Overall his optimism is often a welcome change in a world that seems to be getting bleaker by the day. Just because his words are optimistic though doesn’t mean he wholeheartedly believes them. He would just rather lie to placate someone than strike fear in them.  -  fearful, cunning, indecisive, meek    - fearful - peter’s main motivation in life has always been fear. It began when he was younger with his parents and has continued onto his adult life. War, in particular, makes people do things based out of fear, and Peter is not exempt. Him joining the Order in some blind faith act in his friends, in this lie that Gryffindor’s are always brave, and that they are going to win this. He is fearful of what they would think of him if he declines. He is fearful of a future in which he fights and dies. He is fearful of what happens if he lives.  And most of all, his boggart even, has shown that his greatest fear is Lord Voldemort. He is plagued with the unending sense of doom that looms around them, and how inescapable it truly is.      - cunning - peter pettigrew is a head shorter than Sirius their fourth year, and chubbier than him too according to Harry’s flashback. He is literally and figuratively looked over, not just by his friends, but by his enemies too. There is something about him, perhaps it’s his demeanor, that allows people to discredit his malicious intentions and motivations. It allows him to be cunning ( he was a hat stall between Slytherin and Gryffindor after all ) and uses that to his advantage. He was not some bumbling idiot that his memory would like to paint him, but he was smart and used to advance himself, even if it was to the detriment of his friends.        - indecisive��- to the annoyance of many of his friends it often takes Peter a long time to make any sort of decision. He is more easily swayed if he his prodded by someone else who has a stronger opinion and this is mostly due to how analytical he likes to be. There are very few things in life had has decided for himself without the proper time to actually consider everything,       - meek - due to his fearful nature the boy tends to not be as outspoken as some of his other counterparts. He leans toward the meeker side and this often means that people who only interact with him in passing do not get to know who Peter actually is, or what would motivate him. This also contributes to why people are able to write him off so quickly despite his obvious talents for not only being supportive but also logical about his actions.  

BIOGRAPHY: ( it’s not the trigger list but the bio has some emotional abuse aspects )

     The Pettigrew Family is not one of any status. Poor Enid Pettigrew fell in love with muggle-born wizard Sean Morivan when they were freshly out of school themselves. Throughout their school careers, they did not accomplish anything worth noting, and this mediocrity continued onto their adult lives. They were distinctly middle class and never strived to provide above their means for their life. They saved where they could, spent minimally, and ultimately were on track to lead a quiet life. That was until Enid realized that she was pregnant, which was not in their life plan, but she had Peter anyway.  It was tight on their budget and it was going to make their lives more difficult, but Enid loved the boy so much even before he was born that there was no contest.        He was particularly close with his mother, but even in his youth, he could tell that there was a coldness from his father that he could not place. Peter tried his best to be just like his father, whether it was in intention or walking stance, his Father was the type of person that he wanted to grow up to be just like. However, Sean wanted less to do with him than that, he tolerated the boy but he was never nurturing. Enid tried to do the best for both of them, but she had her own shortcomings. She would leave Peter alone for long stretches of time so that he slowly learned that in order to survive he would have to care for himself. His existence was regulated to something that was better seen, but not heard, something that he adapted surprisingly well too.       Throughout his youth, his Father would comment on the boy’s weight, or demeanor. His lack of skills when it came to practical muggle things that no one had even taken the time to teach him. His words stung on such a young mind, especially from the person who he strived to emulate most. He was not the only one this fell down on though, because as Peter grew older, the arguments that came from his parents grew louder. Sean would speak poorly about Enid’s ability as a mother, or the way she cooked, it was constant in his words, whether passive or active. He was a big lumbering figure who cast a big shadow. When he got home from work Peter would often hide in the closet in his room, trying to create a reality better for himself in there.         Around his tenth birthday, a year shy of Hogwarts, his Father left out of the blue. It was mysterious and without a reason that Peter could find. Peter took on his Mother’s maiden last name as she reverted back to it and they were a small, but happier family for it. Old habits die hard though and Peter was never free from wishing that his Father would come back. Never free from thinking that he was the reason that he had left in the first place.  As the boy headed off to Hogwarts he was worried about making friends, there were fewer opportunities in his childhood to form those sorts of connections. On top of that, he was unsure about what house he felt suited him best – his Father had been in Slytherin, but his Mother had been a Hufflepuff. There was no exception for what he was supposed to be and thus wasn’t sure what to root for. Luckily after his hat stall, he found himself in a sea of red and gold, making fast friends with Sirius, James, and Remus, who were the best people he had met in his entire life.        He would have liked to think that he knew what friendship was before them, but he didn’t. They were much as a family as anything else he had and for the most part, he considered them as such. He was there to listen if they needed to rant or to help Remus study for his exams, more than anything he was happy to have a place where he felt not only safe but wanted. He had spent so much of his life with a poor opinion of himself that it was nice for the tides of change to overcome him while they were in school.  However, throughout this time there was a lot of issues that Peter dealt with in unhealthy ways throughout his time, because it allowed him to fully experience the traumatic and unhealthy nature of his childhood, in a way that he had never been able to process before in order to spare Enid’s feelings on the matter.        After Hogwarts, it hit him that perhaps throughout his time there he ought to have come up with a plan for his future. It was at the suggestion of one of the professors who had been keen enough to notice his non-verbal spell casting talents that he pursue a career with the Ministry as obliviator. It was not like he had any better plans, so that was what he pursued as the world around him began to shift. At the urging of his friends, he joined the Order – terrified – and began to be considered as someone who was apart of the resistance. In all honesty, the prospect of a war terrifies him. As he goes through the motions of weighing the pros and cons of what the outcome of his war has from him, he is beginning to be faced with the bleak realization that the odds might be stacked against them. He doesn’t dare say it aloud though, because saying it aloud makes it real and it’s better for now that it say a thought experiment. 

HEADCANONS:

H1: Peter has always craved attention. There was always something about him that allowed him to naturally blend into the background. Overlooked, and undervalued, he found himself begging for his parent's attention, begging for the positive attention of an adult.  Enid tried her best and probably came closest to that, but everyone else seemed to pass him by. McGonagall undervalues him, pinning him as a bumbling idiot before he can even display talent. His friends are a beacon, but they are also a metric to which he can be compared. He’s not as charming as James, or a smart as Remus, or as cool as Sirius. Peter is always compared to all the nots that comprise him, instead of the positives. Even if someone else doesn’t do it Peter will do it for himself. 

H2: Peter truly enjoys his animagus form. Most people would have been disappointed with a rat, but it brought him a vague sense of comfort. He enjoys the fact that he is a smaller, faster animal in comparison with a larger animal. Not only is it easier to hide in dangerous situations but he likes being in smaller spaces. While most people might be unsettled and feel claustrophobic, Peter just finds it cozy. Something about the whole practice makes him feel safer. So he wouldn’t change it even if he could. 

H3: Peter isn’t often one for vices, in fact by all accounts he’s a lightweight when it comes to liquor. He does have a pesky habit of smoking cigarettes though. It is something he picked up when he got out of Hogwarts. It was a way to destress from his chaotic job at times. It’s something that he has tried to quit a couple of times, but it keeps coming back to him. With the tensions with the war rising steadily since the Curse was laid out, he’s given up on dealing with that particular vice. He is often chided by his mother about the health concerns with them. So when he’s around the company who knows him well he is more likely to hide the habit than he would otherwise. 

H4: Peter has an intense sweet tooth. Probably to the point where the attendants at Honeydukes know his name. When he was younger he collected a ton of the chocolate frog cards. He is also one that would share the wealth if there were people around him to do so. If chocolate frogs aren’t available Sugar Quills are his next favorite. 

H5: Peter often has a stutter. It’s something that happened when he’s nervous. It was really pronounced when he was a kid. His mother would often tell him to work through it and envision the word. As he got older and grew comfortable so it doesn’t happen as often anymore. However, if he’s really intently nervous it will come out for a portion of the time. He hates it and will do his best to hide it if given the option. 

[chasingxprongs]

Snape & James

Okay, so let’s talk about James and Snape. I say this with hesitance because despite the fandoms insistence otherwise...they can’t be compared. There’s no need to make one a villain and the other a victim. Their stories are two completely different ones. However, I am a James blog, so this explanation is how I see James and the James/Snape situation.

Their First Meeting

If you’ll remember, when James and Snape first met on the train. Severus immediately insulted James. He insulted him by putting down Gryffindor, the house James lived and breathed. The house he wanted to be in more than anything. The two of them immediately got off to a bad start and that was mutual.

Snape, was not merely a timid little boy who was picked out of a crowd for no reason and then tortured for years. These were two boys who took an immediate dislike to one another, add in the complications with their mutual jealousy over Lily and they were never going to be friends. Did it remain mutual? Yes, however James had power over Snape which makes James in this situation, the one primarily in the wrong.

On Bullying

When it comes to James and his bullying of Snape, arguments that it was mutual fall down when you consider that James had power whereas Snape did not. James was popular. James was in a position where people would follow and listen to him. James was in a position to sway opinions, as the ‘popular kids’ at schools are. It’s this, this imbalance that makes James in the wrong here, not the theories below that float around tumblr that I’m going to point out.

Snape was a halfblood - James is a pureblood yes. However, James’ family have a very long history of supporting muggleborns. The entire reason the Potter’s aren’t in the sacred 28 is because of their relationship with muggleborns and how vocal they had been about the way in which they were treated and the prejudice rife in the wizarding world. James Potter did not bully Severus Snape because he was a halfblood, he didn’t dislike him because of that and honestly it’s probably the most ridiculous theory. James found out his best mate was a Werewolf and not only accepted him, but did something incredibly dangerous and illegal to make him feel less alone. James Potter didn’t care about blood.

Snape was poor - Once again, completely an irrelevant reason as to why James bullied Snape. This was not J K Rowling’s commentary on the class system in England. If it was, she’d be using a more relevant pureblood than James Potter. Snape being poor is about Snape’s story. Snape being poor is part of his arc and his arc alone. Part of why he made the choices he did. If anything, it’s a commentary on why the Death Eaters, why any gang or organisation that gives you a purpose, preys on the lonely. On the people who haven’t been given the greatest advantages in life. Snape being poor is about Snape and to make that the reason for the bullying takes away not only from James as a character, but from Snape too.

The truth is. James and Snape got off to a terrible start straight away. Add to that, Snape was a weirdo. He was quiet, he was smart, he was ugly and strange and traits like that don’t go down well in school. Is that wrong? Of course it is. Was James a shallow little shit who picked on the school weirdo for attention? Yes, he was. James was privileged and popular. He didn’t understand Snape and he entertained his friends and received attention by picking on this weirdo that nobody really liked. That’s how it started, and that’s how it continued for many years.

Kids can be cruel. But let’s not over analyse and pretend it was anymore than it was.

On Sexual Assault

Now perhaps this is controversial. I’m going to go into it anyway, because this is a work of fiction. I’ve seen many theories all over this website, on if you reverse the pronouns for Snape and have the scene in which James flips him upside down and humiliates him. I’ve seen many a theory in which had Snape been a woman, we would consider what he did to be sexual assault. I think, we are all forgetting one very important thing for that theory.

Snape is not a woman and James’ attack on Snape was not sexual in its intent.

What we seem to forget, in this world in which we analyse every little thing. Is not only the time period this scene is depicting, but also that it is a piece of children’s literature. A piece written by an author simply trying to showcase school yard bullying in a magic school. We can over analyse this as much as we want, we can reverse the pronouns and see what the scene looks like then. However, the fact is, the scene is what it is and no, it is not sexual assault.

Is it humiliating? Yes. Is it cruel? Completely. However, I bolded the word magic above for a reason. What might be considered completely revolting and unforgivable in our world, is completely different here. Severus invented a spell that literally slashed a person open. Harry lost all the bones in his arm and grew them back over night. There are spells that bring pain, spells that humiliate, spells that literally take away someone’s memory and out of all of these spells...only three are actually illegal to perform.

The idea of what is acceptable and what isn’t, is entirely skewed when you take them away from a muggle world and into a magical one.

On Redemption

Here’s what annoys me most of all. The majority of this fandom redeems one or the other. Never both. Because in school they had a rivalry. Because Snape held on to that and Snape is the one we get to witness be redeemed. Snape lives his life, we read about him, we see his flashbacks, we witness his death and his sacrifice in a way we don’t see James. Snape gets the same redemption as Sirius (who was arguably crueller than James) does, and it’s simply because we as readers, became attached. I’m going to list James’ redeeming qualities that know about from canon below;  

- Accepted his friend being a werewolf, then became an animagus to support him. - Became Quidditch Captain & Head boy, both positions you cannot get nor perform without the respect of your peers and your teachers. Without redeeming qualities. - Openly stated in canon that he matured. Meaning, as all children do, he grew the fuck up. He’s not defined by who he was as a child, by his misbehaviour, by any of that. - Married Lily Evans. By not considering this point, you are disregarding Lily as a character. Her strength, her stubbornness This is a woman who ended the most important friendship in her life because of the path he chose. This is the woman who fought a likely losing battle against the dark lord. She was not worn down by James Potter, she didn’t simply give in. She found out who he was. She separated him from Severus and fell for James. We have to assume, he was more than what we simply see in flashbacks. - He was willing and eager to share his home and parents with Sirius. - He pulled Severus back during the famous prank. He didn’t like him, he hated him arguably. Yet he did it anyway, because he was aware of when something was too far. - He joined the Order. He could have joined Voldemort. The winning side. He was pureblood, he was relatively safe. He didn’t have to fight, he could have chose the easy life and yet he didn’t. - He financially supported Remus and Lily after school so they could all fight in the Order full time. - He stood wandless and faced Voldemort to give his wife and child a chance to survive. At 21. He died for them, and knew doing it that he was going to die.  

We can ignore these things, and instead we make excuses for all of Snape’s questionable behaviour because he was bullied in school, so obviously it’s all James’ fault. Every single bad decision Snape made was down to James of course. Joining the death eaters? All James. Actively bullying students as a teacher? James from beyond the grave. We forget, had Voldemort thought the prophecy was about Neville and not Harry? Snape would never have gone to Dumbledore. He would never have changed his mind. That was for Lily, not for what was right and that is where people fall down in their opinions of Snape. I love Snape as a character. He’s flawed and complex and that makes for the best kinds of characters. I think he’s a victim of a lot of things, I also think he’s a grown man who made some terrible decisions and there’s a lot to say about a teacher in a position of authority actively bullying students. That doesn’t make him irredeemable, it makes him human that he has flaws. It makes him realistic that he can’t let go of past hurts and resentments. It makes his redemption that much sweeter because he isn’t perfect. He isn’t just a straight up, boring hero with no flaws. If we can do that for Snape. We can do that for James Potter who was a child. We can like them both for their differences and stop having to hate one to like the other. Aside from loving the same girl and incidents in school...their stories have nothing to do with one another. I could go on. I could talk about Lily. But I won’t, because I think the two most important points are covered. James Potter is not defined by his school years. Severus Snape is not defined by James Potter.

[ivoryandbonerpg-blog]

                                 ♔ OWEN CAVENDISH ♔

( the basics. )

AGE: 23 LINEAGE: Half-blood SCHOOL / ALUMNI: Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry HOUSE: Horned Serpent ALLIANCE: The Order

( personality. )

✓ / ✗ : accepting, friendly, adventurous, naive, overbearing, gullible

( biography. )

• The world is a place of endless discovery and progress. Such is the view of Owen Cavendish. Born in a quaint cottage in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, Owen was raised in a loving household consisting of his mother and grand-mère. Separated from the dangers of a large metropolis with two doting witches always in sight, the young boy was able to enjoy the full wonders of a life between two different worlds. In the summers he would chase the kelpies that nested near the copper-toned shorelines and clumsily trying to converse with the occasional merperson who drifted near his home. In the winters when the snow isolated his snug home, Owen would spend his days in the workshop of his father- a Muggle engineer who has been lost at sea before the boy could walk. There he would tinker with gears and metal, enchanting old tin soldiers to perform dances for his mother when she seemed to withdraw into herself. His family was his world, and to both witches, Owen was their sun.

• As he grew older, it came time for him to part from his comfortable household in order to learn to properly control his growing magic. His grand-mère sent him off to Illvermony, where she had learned how to become an accomplished witch in her own right. The Horned Serpent chose him immediately, sensing the boy’s inquisitive mind. Any fears that he would not fit in were quelched in his excitement of the new environment around him. Muggleborns who never knew magic were equally as fascinating to Owen as the Purebloods who quirked their heads at the sight of pens and flashlights. He found a particular love for Charms, taking the crude enchantments he had attempted in his youth and improving them with his own unique style of magic. In his spare time he would continue to tinker away with Muggle technology, infusing his newly-learned charms into them to see what exactly would happen. On the odd occasion, these experimentations went awry, causing havoc and giving the poor wizard a rather eccentric reputation in the halls of the school. Owen however, did not take their wariness personally, always offering a helping hand to anyone and everyone who needed it. 

• While he did not so much mind his unintended exile from the more popular social circles at Illvermony, there were troubles that certainly followed as a result of it. Owen found himself a frequent victim of the school’s queen bee at the time, Su Yi-Jae. Like many of his peers, he had found himself inexplicably drawn and embarrassingly smitten with the older witch, who oozed charisma from every pore. Every time she was near, it was as if a fog settled over his mind and Yi-Jae took a perverse delight in exploiting it. She made him do things, terrible things in secret to peers who didn’t deserve it. She would abuse his brilliance to breeze through her courses, and he found himself unable to deny her when she asked the impossible of him. His inventions, which were meant to help and entertain others, were instead used to terrorize those who the witch opposed.  Yi-Jae bullied him relentlessly, and Owen lacked the willpower to stand up to her. The worst part about it was that she always found a way to convince him that it had all been because of something that he had wanted, that he was deserving of her torment. The manipulation continued for years, and despite his gradual understanding of what she was doing to him, Owen was helpless. It was only when she had finally graduated and left the school for good that he felt more like himself again. But guilt gnawed at him. Whether it was due to his kind nature or a darker compulsion, he was an indirect accomplice to her terrible reign, and it felt awful. 

• Despite his troubles with Yi-Jae, there were still those who Owen managed to befriend when he was away from her sphere of influence. Allister Kane was one such person. A younger member of Horned Serpent, the two immediately hit it off with one another. They explored every inch of the school grounds, frequently getting out of trouble by the skin of their teeth. Whenever Owen had developed a new hybrid of Muggle and wizard technology, Allister was the first to witness its test drive. Owen helped the withdrawn boy discover his talent for writing, and encouraged him to foster that gift. Allister in turn kept Owen company when few others were willing to; something that the inventor would forever be grateful for. Even when Owen had graduated several years earlier than Allister, the pair remained in frequent contact with one another.

•  Upon leaving Illvermony, Owen became a metal-charmer for an engineering firm in Canada. He specialized in the creation of moving sculptures, which were a hit among well-to-do wizards and witches who wanted to flaunt their wealth. In his spare time he continued to experiment with various types of Muggle objects and magic, creating pens which never ran out of ink and paper that would encrypt whatever was written on it into code. It was a comfortable living, but it lacked the sort of excitement that Owen was looking for. Not to mention it allowed him far too much time to dwell on thoughts that should very much stay in the past. So when Allister informed him of his intent to investigate the Death Eaters overseas, Owen jumped on the opportunity to fly with him. A new country with a new start sounded like exactly the sort of thing that the wizard needed to shake things up. Having just arrived in Wizarding London, Owen has high hopes that he can aid the Order with his inventions, and perhaps atone for the destruction that he caused in the past.

( sexuality. )

Bisexual

( connections. )

⚔ Allister Kane : Owen’s best friend from Illvermony. A younger member of the Horned Serpent house, Allister ended up the unwitting accomplice in the older wizard’s shenanigans. The pair struck an unusual bond with one another (as one would after taking a literal thunderbird for an accidental joyride) and have remained close all throughout their schooling years. Allister is often the voice of reason between the two of them, and has helped Owen out of more than a few predicaments. Owen was one of the few to get past Allister’s thorny shell and helped to build up the wizard’s confidence as a writer. So when Allister had asked him to move to London to aid the Order of the Phoenix, Owen hadn’t hesitated to pack his bags. After all, he could smell adventure right around the corner and he would be loathe to let Allister have all the fun on his own.

⚔ Su Yi-Jae : There aren’t many things that Owen fears, but Yi-Jae is certainly one of them. He remembers the sort of terror that she wrecked upon Illvermony, and the devastating aftermath for many of the younger students in his generation. The wizard has a difficult time coping with the fact that the witch had taken advantage of him countless times without his willing consent. To this day Owen is positive that she used some form of dark magic on him on more than one occasion. While he generally tries to remain as open-minded and forgiving a person as possible, he is uncertain if Yi-Jae is likely to be repentant for her actions. And when he caught wind that the witch would be coming to London for an exclusive tour, well, it sufficed to say that Owen became slightly more jumpy since then.

the role of OWEN CAVENDISH is currently CLOSED.

[morsmordrehasbeensaved]

CONGRATULATIONS HALEY, YOU HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED AS LUDOVIC BAGMAN WITH THE FACECLAIM OF NAT WOLFF!

Haley! You absolutely blew us out of the water with this application - but what else is new when it comes to your writing, if I’m being honest. We adored the personality you wrote for Ludo so much, it fit everything that we had in mind for him perfectly and went far beyond it. His biography was wonderful to read too, and helped explain exactly why he is the way he is and acts the way he does. Overall, we are super excited to have him join the gang!

Check out our acceptance checklist right here on what to do next!

♔ OUT OF CHARACTER INFO ♔

NAME/ALIAS:

Haley, but you already know that!

AGE:

20!

PREFERRED PRONOUNS:

She/Her

TIMEZONE & ACTIVITY:

You guys already know this too, but CST and a 7/10

TRIGGERS:

REMOVED.

ANYTHING ELSE:

REMOVED.

♔ IN CHARACTER INFO ♔

FULL NAME:

Ludovic Felix Bagman

BIRTHDAY AND AGE:

April 20th is Ludo’s birthday. He’s seventeen right now, and will be 18. He is a Taurus-Aries cusp, with a Leo moon.

PRONOUNS:

He/Him

SEXUALITY/ROMANTIC ORIENTATION:

Ludovic is bisexual and biromantic. He’ll be with pretty much anybody, really. He’s not picky at all.

EXTRACURRICULARS:

I’m fine with him just being on the Quidditch team! He’s too much of a slacker for anything else!

PERSONALITY TRAITS:

+ Athletic: Ludovic has always excelled at anything physical and it’s why he was made captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. He works hard at improving his body, perhaps harder than any other thing. He finds great joy in not only quidditch, but physical fighting, wrestling, and rough-housing.

+ Clever: Ludovic has a mind that can find the strangest solutions to a problem. His intellect manifests in a multitude of ways, though he mostly takes advantage of it when he needs to come up with an excellent lie or excuse.

+/- Talkative: Ludo spent too much of his childhood not talking, so now that he’s surrounded by people he wants to constantly be conversing.

+/- Loud: Going hand in hand with his love for conversation, Ludo can also be louder than the average person. His voice fills the room and his laugh is even louder.

=/- Care-free: Ludovic’s life motto is “go with the flow”. If something happens, it was always meant to happen. There was nothing anybody could have done about it, so why spend time worrying about it? This is good sometimes. He doesn’t sweat the small things and you’ll find it very hard to get him in a bad mood. It’s also detrimental, however, because he finds it hard to care about literally any bad thing. His grades? His future? The war and the future of wizarding society? Not his problem.

- Cowardly: Ludovic has a well-known gambling problem and he also has a tendency to talk a little too loudly about things that might get him trouble. This is all fine and dandy, until he’s confronted by it. If Ludo is faced with a fight that he knows he cannot win, he will instantly try and find another way to escape unharmed, even if it means kissing up to whoever he may need to.

- Irresponsible: Ludovic, quite literally, does not care whatsoever about any of his responsibilities, save for Quidditch. He will skip class, come to class drunk, not do his homework, or just blatantly cheat off of someone. It’s currently his biggest problem and one that the staff of Hogwarts vehemently hates.

BIOGRAPHY:

For most of his life, Ludovic Felix Bagman lived in the mountains of Scotland, in the same home that his mother grew up in. Susan MacCrain was a first-year Ravenclaw whenever she met Heinz Bagman, a third-year Slytherin. Heinz was from Germany, where the Bagman family estate resided. He was a pureblood, and although he didn’t put much stock into all of the purity nonsense, he was still proud of having only wizard-blood run through his veins. Susan and Heinz were busy people. They both held high-ranking positions in the Ministry of Magic. Heinz was the Head of the Department for Magical Transportation and Susan was a senior employee within the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. She ran the Muggle-worthy Excuse Committee, a job befitting of her background. Because they held such time consuming jobs, their sons Otto and Ludovic, spent most of their days and nights alone.

Despite their solitude, Otto and Ludo grew up as happy boys. Otto was four years Ludo’s senior, but this did not stop them from playing together every chance they got. Their home was surrounded by hills and mountains and these boys left no stone unturned. They explored every inch of their property and mapped out all of the best climbing spots together. It was a picture-esque, dreamlike childhood. When Ludo was seven years old, Otto went off to Hogwarts. This was the beginning of his change. For the first time in his life, he was truly alone. Oh, sure, he had the family house elf, Loosey, but she was no fun to play with. All she did was fuss over him and tell him that what he was about to do was dangerous. It was because of Loosey that he got into flying and Quidditch. Neither his parents, nor Otto, had ever been big fans of flying, but they did have a broom or two in the shed, should they ever need one. Loosey had warned him not to fly them without parental supervision, but he had ignored her. It was one of these brooms that Ludo was riding when he fell in love with flying.

Everything changed for Ludo that day. He wasn’t so bothered by his solitude. It meant he had time to practice. Day in and day out, Ludovic soared through his family’s land, ducking between trees and avoiding the more dangerous branches. Soon enough, Ludo could perform even the most dangerous of moves. It was then when he truly fell in love with Quidditch. He tried out every position. Keeper was alright, though it was hard to practice alone. He had to order Loosey to throw apples through the middle of two trees so that he could try to and block it. He quickly moved on to Chasing. This was much more fun, but still, he never quite got completely into it. Seeking was a no-go from the beginning. Too boring. Ludovic wanted action and adrenaline. Beating was perfect for him. He had so much fun flying through the air, smashing at rocks with his bat. He longed for the day that he would be able to hit a true Bludger.

Time continued to pass until one day, Ludovic received his much awaited letter from Hogwarts. He’d always wanted to go to school, especially after hearing all of Otto’s stories. Hogwarts sounded like so much fun, even the school work! When the moment finally arrived to board the Hogwarts Express, Ludovic sat with Otto and his friends and when the Sorting Hat was placed upon his head, he was sorted into Ravenclaw. It was the house of his mother and brother and for awhile, no one questioned his placement. Ludo had always been a clever boy. Primarily, he used his intellect to escape from sticky situations, but it came in handy for school work too. He made plenty of friends throughout the entire school. Ludo was not picky when it came to who he associated with. Good, bad, rich, poor, young, or old. Even as an eleven year old, he had friendships that spanned all years and houses. Though, to be fair, a good deal of his older friends came from his brother. For his first few years, that was who he mainly spent his time with. Sure, he was friendly enough with Rookwood, D’Eath, Bones, and his other housemates, but it was the older Ravenclaw boys that he truly fell in with.

It was their influence that first planted the seed of irresponsibility in Ludovic. To this day, Otto Bagman regrets allowing his little brother to spend so much time with people far beyond his age. They introduced him to everything that a child should not be introduced to; drugs, sex, and alcohol primarily. Ludo was but eleven the first time he smoked a cigarette, twelve the first time he was drunk, and thirteen when he saw someone naked who was not himself. This might not have been a problem for everybody, but Ludo loved his brother and he looked up to him, so if he was doing all of these things then they must not be all that bad, right?

The years continued to go by and finally, Otto Bagman graduated Hogwarts, leaving fourth-year Ludo behind. It was this moment that he truly began to spiral. Otto had always been a good student and he had always encouraged Ludo to do his schoolwork. Sure, he drank like any teenager did, but he met his responsibilities and always encouraged Ludo to do the same. Perhaps he could sense the troublemaker within Ludo, or perhaps he just felt that was what an older brother was supposed to do. In his absence, Ludovic floundered. He was angry and upset. His brother and all of his friends had moved on to bigger things, leaving him alone at school. Hogwarts did not seem so fun anymore. Sure, he had Quidditch… but he didn’t have any close friends. He quickly took steps to remedy this. He mimicked his older brother and began throwing parties whenever he could. After a Quidditch match (no matter if it was a win or lose), after an exam, or even just because. He didn’t need an excuse. He succeeded in the end by forming a trio with Emma Vanity and Marlene McKinnon. The three became renowned at school as the premier party throwers and their poker games were considered to be legendary.

Finally! Ludovic had created a life for himself outside of his brother. Only, the life he had created was not so good for him. Without his brother’s help, his grades began to slip. He quickly became known as slacker amongst his teachers and they were ever-so disappointed, since O.W.L’s were only a year away. His teachers were constantly bombarding him, wanting to know what had happened? Where had that clever boy gone? He didn’t like the constant questioning and began to act out as a result. His attitude and irresponsibility landed him in detention more times than he could count. These bad habits persisted for another year before his family finally caught wind. Unfortunately, as much as they cared for their son, his parents never really had had time for him and they didn’t do anything. Otto tried his best, begging his brother to apply himself, but Ludovic only ignored him. He liked the life he lived and he didn’t feel like changing it anytime soon.

Now, he was a seventh year, only one year away from graduating. He had his eyes set on becoming a professional Quidditch player once he left school and was determined to win every game he could, because the scouts would surely be watching. Life after Hogwarts was a little daunting, but he was looking forward to. Sure, there was a blood-purity war brewing, but he didn’t mind. He was friends with everyone, muggleborn and pureblood alike. This war did not affect him, therefore, he paid it very little mind. All he wanted to do was play Quidditch, kiss a good-looking person, and maybe have a drink along the way. There was no reason for the war to get in the way of that.

ADDITIONAL INFO:

1. Taurus-Aries cusps are described as having a dominant personality. You always know when they’re in the room. They can be good leaders if they choose to be and do not like to submit to the authority of others.

2. Ludovic’s moon sign is in Leo, which means that at his most internal, he has the tendency to approach life in the most fun way possible. He also can be very selfish and focused on himself.

3. Ludovic made great grades on his O.W.L’s, despite his dismal class grades.

4. His favorite color is purple