#I love writing the HP trios!

[uefb]

Another little snippet from my “Newt & Hermione meet at her interview with the Department for Regulation & Control of Magical Creatures in the year 2000” scribblings

I only add to this wildly self-indulgent fic when I really need control over my life, and I do doubt I’ll ever finish it so I’ll probably just be posting random excerpts here instead because I think it’s a fun little thing. They’ll be under the tag “fic: the beings division”.

EXCERPT:

“I was going to go do some writing at a hidden little cafe up on Old Street, but if you’d like to join me for a - for a cup of tea instead?”

Hermione nearly squeaked. “You mean now?”

“I don’t see why not,” he shrugged, fingers absentmindedly beating out a rhythm on the handle of his cane. “I’m not technically on your hiring committee, and I always wait around London for my wife so we can travel home together. She’s off doing Morrigan knows what at the Wizengamot so there’s no telling how long that’ll take.” 

He shook out one hand to tap pointedly at a gold cuff engraved with runes at his wrist.

“And Tina knows how to find me.”

“Is that—” Hermione took a step forward and asked with far more interest than she’d intended— “Is that Protean charmed?”

“Oh, that and more, yes.”

He tugged the sleeve of his sweater back down and readjusted the grip on his walking stick. Hermione blushed deeply and hurriedly stepped away when she realised just how much she’d encroached on his personal space while attempting to get a better look at the enchantments.

He continued nevertheless, unperturbed: “You have an interest in runes, then?”

“Oh yes,” she answered quickly, and she felt herself beaming. (Ron hadn’t deigned to listen to her rant about her translation projects in far too long.) “It’s one of my side passions.”

“That’s wonderful.”

And he looked like he meant it.

“So — then - Tea, Miss Granger? And an explanation of this Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare you apparently founded? At 14?”

“Oh, right - yes! I’d be honoured.” She yanked on her coat and shoved her satchel beneath one arm, extending the other for a more formal introduction. “And you can call me Hermione, Mr. Scamander.”

His lips twitched toward a smile though he didn’t quite meet her eyes as he shook her hand.

“Well, Hermione—” And then he was patting down his own jacket, fishing a pair of gloves out of some hidden pocket before nodding down the corridor toward one of the apparition rooms— “Call me Newt.”

And—with a jaunty wave over his shoulder at a fellow wrestling a pixie back into a box behind them—he set off with a hasty loping limp, apparently assuming she’d get the idea and follow.

Hermione blinked and momentarily froze, barely suppressing a disbelieving laugh—she was going to have tea with scientific revolutionary Newt Scamander. (And, if she was lucky, perhaps meet one of America’s most respected presidents of the past two centuries when his wife Tina Goldstein came to pick him up…)

She shot a subtle airplane-message from her wand toward the Auror Offices before taking off after the surprisingly spry old man at a trot.

(Sure, Ron would have no idea who she was talking about, but she was fairly certain Harry knew enough to advise him to at least feign amazement when they all met up that evening for dinner.

(And oh, goodness—Luna was going to be jealous. But perhaps if this went well he’d be amenable to meeting her…? He seemed the sort to have patience for her, after all.)

[toorumlk]

— chapter 7, goblet of fire

i felt the strongest urge to draw this endearing scene :’)

[t1oui]

writing 8th year is actually kinda fun. also as much as oblivious ron is funny ron being the only one who knows what's going on is way more entertaining (in my opinion)

[rewritingcanon]

hello everybody i am back with another epic fanfic drop for @marauderswithpalestineproject. this one is andromeda-centric, with heavy focus on her relationship with her sisters, ted as a contrast, and her mother who is also doomed by the narrative (spoiler! everyone in the fic kinda is!). it’s mostly canon compliant (i think i accidentally messed up the birthdays for some of the characters… whoopsie..) and will eventually feature baby nymphadora as a treat for 25k words of angst. mwah mwah check it out if you want to maybe!!

[firendgold]

Since I saw that you're doing the violence ask game can you answer 22, 25 and 7??

I sure can.~

This one got long af though, so another readmore.

(still choosing violence)

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

This is another one I've answered already, but tbf... it was yesterday. So I can pull my second favorite part of canon instead so you don't have to re-read an older answer.

There's two moments that tie: one in year 5 and one in year 6. Year 5's moment is a nice warm-and-fuzzy "the trio are such good friends" scene, in the midst of Umbridge torturing Harry with her quill:

It was nearly midnight when Harry left Umbridge’s office that night, his hand now bleeding so severely that it was staining the scarf he had wrapped around it. He expected the common room to be empty when he returned, but Ron and Hermione had sat up waiting for him. He was pleased to see them, especially as Hermione was disposed to be sympathetic rather than critical. “Here,” she said anxiously, pushing a small bowl of yellow liquid toward him, “soak your hand in that, it’s a solution of strained and pickled murtlap tentacles, it should help.” Harry placed his bleeding, aching hand into the bowl and experienced a wonderful feeling of relief. Crookshanks curled around his legs, purring loudly, and then leapt into his lap and settled down. “Thanks,” he said gratefully, scratching behind Crookshanks’s ears with his left hand. “I still reckon you should complain about this,” said Ron in a low voice. “No,” said Harry flatly. “McGonagall would go nuts if she knew—” “Yeah, she probably would,” said Harry. “And how long d’you reckon it’d take Umbridge to pass another Decree saying anyone who complains about the High Inquisitor gets sacked immediately?” Ron opened his mouth to retort but nothing came out and after a moment he closed it again in a defeated sort of way. “She’s an awful woman,” said Hermione in a small voice. “Awful. You know, I was just saying to Ron when you came in . . . we’ve got to do something about her.” “I suggested poison,” said Ron grimly.

Just seeing the trio bounce off each other is soothing (especially after reading days or weeks worth of fanfics where they all suddenly hate each other or were never really that good of friends or whatever). Harry's gratitude and stubbornness, Hermione's caretaking and forethought and plotting, Ron's voice of reason and necessary dash of humor... all perfect. Also, just... Harry is so used to going things alone, toughing things out by himself. It's heartwarming and sad that he still doesn't expect Ron and Hermione to do something as simple as waiting up for him to get back from hellish detention. Also also: Crookshanks curling up with him. ^^

Year 6's moment is just between Harry and Hermione:

Hermione stopped dead; Harry had heard it too. Somebody had moved close behind them among the dark bookshelves. They waited and a moment later the vulture-like countenance of Madam Pince appeared round the corner, her sunken cheeks, her skin like parchment and her long hooked nose illuminated unflatteringly by the lamp she was carrying. ‘The library is now closed,’ she said. ‘Mind you return anything you have borrowed to the correct – what have you been doing to that book, you depraved boy?’ ‘It isn’t the library’s, it’s mine!’ said Harry hastily, snatching his copy of Advanced Potion-Making off the table as she lunged at it with a clawlike hand. ‘Despoiled!’ she hissed. ‘Desecrated! Befouled!’ ‘It’s just a book that’s been written in!’ said Harry, tugging it out of her grip. She looked as though she might have a seizure; Hermione, who had hastily packed her things, grabbed Harry by the arm and frogmarched him away. ‘She’ll ban you from the library if you’re not careful. Why did you have to bring that stupid book?’ ‘It’s not my fault she’s barking mad, Hermione. Or d’you think she overheard you being rude about Filch? I’ve always thought there might be something going on between them …’ ‘Oh, ha, ha …’ Enjoying the fact that they could speak normally again, they made their way along the deserted, lamplit corridors back to the common room, arguing about whether or not Filch and Madam Pince were secretly in love with each other.

Very, very cute scene showing Harry and Hermione getting along casually, something we're not often treated to even in canon. A frankly disturbing amount of fans (particularly fans of A Specific Ship I Will Not Mention Here) have bought into the propaganda that Harry and Hermione aren't really that good of friends just because during GOF, when he'd just experienced his first ever schism with a close friend, Harry privately confessed to missing Ron and enjoying the things he did with his male best friend more. The trio is not "Harry and Ron, then Ron and Hermione". It's "Harry, Ron, and Hermione"; all three of them are necessary pieces of the whole. Harry and Hermione's friendship is different than Harry's with Ron, but it's no less valuable, and not any weaker, or else Hermione wouldn't have stayed in that damned tent.

25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

Every bit of discourse about Sirius not getting a trial. We know. The injustice is the point. The cruelty is the point. The POINT is to show that wizarding Britain is glitz and glamor and not all that fair to its marginalized peoples and underclass, you nimrods. Frankly, the fanfics that purport to 'fix' it by giving Sirius his "restored Lordship" or a bunch of seats on the Wizengamot or immediate "wizarding guardianship" over Harry or some unnamed hot babes for him to fuck on or off-screen are very... shallow and unsatisfying. Either that or they give him a bunch of money, though this would at least be on brand for the Ministry. But like... yeah. I'm tired of this complaint always going in the same direction and not being a gateway to Greater Commentary On The Series and the World. Because it's not like Sirius and/or Harry become the type of people who rebel against this ideology. If anything, they embrace the pureblood nonsense in a lot of these fics and are just mad that Sirius was the target that one time. Gaaaah.

And, and. Every bit of discourse about Dumbledore leaving Harry at the Dursleys and/or the sacrificial lamb throwaway line by Snape, especially because 99.9% of people discussing it either haven't read the books, haven't read them since the first time and desperately need a re-read, have only seen the movies, are parroting opinions from some other wrong person on the internet, are all read-up but blatantly ignoring what Dumbledore and Harry say (and don't say) over what they THINK they mean, or some other lovely form of ignorance that leads to the same long-debunked takes being re-introduced as GASP-DID-YOU-EVER-CONSIDER soundbites over and over and over and OVER again. I'm so sick of it.

I get it, JKR's a TERF, you don't want to re-engage with her work, and you don't have to. You don't have to give her any more money. Hell, you shouldn't, ever again. But please, fucking make sure your knowledge is correct and not fandom telephone when it comes to Harry's childhood and Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. I'm not-even-lowkey sick of some of y'all at this point.

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because of how the fandom acts about them?

I... don't have an immediate answer for this, so I'm going to have to think about it. To you it's only going to take me one line, but for me it'll actually be like... an evening or something.

...

Okay.

This is difficult because (to use the exact terminology) I can't think of a character I've come to hate because of how the fandom acts about them. I definitely have characters whose most popular fanon versions are so irritating or repulsive that it has caused me to look more critically on the real versions of them, though. I guess maybe I'll list those here.

Fleur came to mind first. She seems (and can be) very shallow and haughty in canon at first, but shows compassion and hidden depths in all three of her appearances. She has some veela hair in her wand from her grandmother, and a deep devotion for her younger sister. However... many fanfics (especially harem fanfics or flowerpot fanfics) paint her as either this femme fatale who uses her "veela allure" at will and Cannot Fathom the idea of a man who can resist her (and is thus more vulnerable to falling in love with such a man) or as a super-powerful witch whose family is basically running Magical France (since of course, she is the only French character we know, so why wouldn't she be the most influential person there? /s). Basically, the "foreign" version of what people do to fanon Daphne Greengrass. Ironically, the best fanfic portrayals of Fleur I've seen are the ones that keep her shipped with Bill (with a few flowerpot exceptions, see A Beautiful Lie by MaybeMayba as the prime example), or ship her with Hermione or Ginny... which is sad because I love me some ship variety. (And I still think Bill/Tonks would've been rad as hell.) So I don't dislike canon Fleur, but fanon's "over-attention" to that possible veela heritage and the weird implication that Harry was just "forced" not to notice this perfect woman in his life, rather than just noticing her beauty and not being interested, rubs me the wrong way and disinclines me from including her in many of my own works.

The Bones family is next. Yes, both Amelia and Susan. Susan isn't as bad (I think she has... two lines in Order of the Phoenix? maybe?), but as with most "mostly undefined" HP girls, the personality the fandom has given her (the super sweet politically-savvy Hufflepuff girlfriend of "just do independent!Harry with Lordships and pro-Ministry propaganda and plenty of Wizengamot meetings between Hogwarts classes") is one I've seen so many times it has come to negatively affect my view of the real girl, even though I think the way she calls Amelia "auntie" in canon is adorable. As for Amelia, fanon likes to make her either the Only Sane Man in the Ministry or the leader of the sane faction, who magically is able to fix or ignore all the corruption in said Ministry and can railroad through whatever decisions Harry needs done once he needs to Do Political or Pureblood Stuff Outside of Hogwarts--provided, of course, he's been nice enough to Susan recently.

The closest actual answer to this question I have is Tom Riddle. I didn't like him in canon by any means--I'd probably say I was neutral toward him, just seeing him as "the young Voldemort before he did his magical girl transformation". But fanon kind of acts like he and Voldemort are... two different people? There's these pervasive ideas that either Tom could've been "saved" if Certain People Just Did More (to stop him sneaking around and bullying and murdering???), or that Tom wasn't really so bad when he was gathering up supporters, murdering his family members and the few people who trusted him, and generally going around Becoming the Dark Lord--it was just when he made the switch that he became bad. And like... no. I can't buy that. Even in fanfic, I can't get fully behind the idea of a sane Tom Riddle who was Doing Good until he got sidetracked Oh Nooo. He wasn't. I believe Voldemort was saner before he tried to kill a baby and it backfired, but I don't think there was ever a point where he could have been saved. At every fork he made the wrong decision--to soothe his ego, to feel powerful, to feel special, to feel better than others and make them feel that way too. Tom Riddle's a prick. If anything, we should've seen him squirm a little more before he died.

The last one stings, because it's a character I adore: Hermione. Hermione is a very polarizing figure in canon and always has been, I get it. But what particularly hurts me about her fanon portrayals is that they are VERY SELDOM accurate, or even balanced. Either the author sees her as Their Wife and so she is perfect and never does any wrong and basically becomes the main character of the fic (even if she is not actually the main character), or they overinflate her flaws and use it as a reason to hate on her and bash her to oblivion. There's rarely an in-between. I'm not sure which one is worse. If you held my feet to the fire, I might say the former because a character without any flaws or one who takes over the entire narrative and doesn't let other characters breathe is not fucking interesting to me in the slightest.

This especially hurts because I am a huge Harmony fan and like 60% of bad Harmony fanfics are always the same fucking tropes/plotlines. Hermione is unironically referred to as The Brightest Witch of THE Age (incorrect, not what Remus said. he said "the brightest witch of your age I've ever met", basically meaning she's unusually smart for a fourteen year-old girl). She's treated like the next female Dumbledore who has all the answers (even about stuff she wouldn't know) and often guides Harry's every move.

And speaking of Dumbledore--the same girl who is supportive of him in canon and (after Harry) is MOST likely to recognize Dumbledore as a human who can make mistakes is ALWAYS turned into a Dumbledore Skeptic Who Has Been Suspicious of His Motives All Along, and who will do whatever it takes to get her boyfriend away from his manipulations... by taking manipulative!Dumbledore's place. That's right. This version of fanon Hermione ALWAYS becomes the same thing the author is supposedly railing against, because Harry becomes her mouthpiece, spends all his time with her to the exclusion of anyone else, and can't have a single meeting or meaningful scene with any other character unless she is also present.

Haphne fics do this too, but I swear they got it from bad Harmony fics and it makes me so mad. For once, I would love to read a Harmony fic where Dumbledore is portrayed accurately and both Harry AND Hermione are equal, independent partners who don't have panic attacks if separated for more than five minutes. Especially because as a child Hermione never struck me as the kind of person who even would get married or have a serious relationship distracting her from her Great Work!

But yeah. That last one hurts the most because I love Hermione as an individual, as the very important third of the trio, as a potential partner for Harry (though this isn't the right blog for that!), and just as an iconic character.

I... think that's all? Yep. Thanks~!

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Love the posts on Harry’s mischaracterisation!! It’s soo soothing to come across Harry appreciation!

How infuriating is it that everything he does, particularly his successful defeat of Voldemort, hinges on Hermione’s guidance. Fic writers out here writing smack like without her, the trio would’ve been lost and aimless. Or how Hermione’s spell repertoire kept Harry alive throughout school. Uhm, ex-bloody-cuse me? And then some fics go to the extremes of even making Harry a pliable weakling who can’t think for himself or make him apologise for coming off as self-righteous and prejudiced against the racist party? 🙄

Honestly, it’s seems less like terrible reading comprehension and more of extreme bias for their fav character, who is definitely so not Harry, and some blatant dislike of him instead. You never see the titular character so severely undervalued and made fun of in other series smh.

Thank you so much! 😊

Harry is my favorite and I can't get how people can dislike him so much after reading the books.

Now, I don't want to put down Hermione. Her spell repertoire and tendency to plan ahead did save their lives multiple times. Ron, also, had his share of clever heroic moments and he got to save the trio's lives too. And so did Harry. All three of them are smart, talented, and capable wizards in their own right. Like, the entire Golden Trio are not average and it's shown to be so repeatedly.

But, Harry is special. He is the main character and the chosen one for a reason. While Ron and Hermione are smart and talented, they don't have Harry's sheer magical talent that's on par with characters like Voldemort and Dumbledore.

Honestly, I find the weak-willed passive Harry more offensive than the unintelligent or magically inept one. Harry is so smart, but one of the most defining aspects of his character is his iron will and strength of character. It's a big aspect of what makes him special. what makes him the main hero. I mean, there's a reason he can naturally resist the Imperius. Harry James Potter is so strong. He goes through so much and is such a good person anyway. He's willing to stand up and keep fighting against impossible odds, and honestly, book!Harry is an inspirational character. There's a lot you can learn from him and aspire to (not everything, but his resilience is truly something to behold).

That being said, I don't think this is unique to Harry Potter (Ron bashing which often mischaracterizes him, for example) or the HP fandom as a whole.

I used to be a huge Percy Jackson fan (I kinda hate everything past the Last Olympian, HOO was not to my liking at all, but I digress). And from what I remember in fics and the PJO fandom when I was there (I think it's worse now, from the bits I see on occasion), it had just as much of a problem as the Harry Potter fandom does. Fanon often portrayed Percy as stupid, or this kind of sunshine character, when he really isn't. Fans complained back when House of Hades came out that Percy was OOC for chocking a goddess with her own blood, and I was sitting there, like, this is the guy that turned his abusive stepdad to stone with Medusa's head when he was 12 — are we really talking about the same character?

Percy in the first 5 books was clever, witty, genuinely funny, but also really bitter. He had loads of spite in him but he also genuinely cared about people and was incredibly loyal to his loved ones. The fandom, just turned him into a happy-go-lucky funny guy who can't get out of a paper bag without Annabeth (the smart love interest). And it infuriated me there too because I liked canon Percy.

I was also, a huge Gravity Falls fan (still am, actually, even if I'm not as hyper-fixated as I was in 2015). When I was in high school, I was in the Gravity Falls cipher-breaking trenches. I was analyzing that show frame by frame and spoiled all the plot twists to my irl friends because I saw the clues (such as predicting who's the author and the stan twins situation after s1 ep19). I actually predicted a good chunk of what's written in the Book of Bill that came out this year with the Bill Cipher psychological analysis I wrote when I was 15. (I feel so vindicated about that. I sent a bunch of quotes from the book to those same irl friends who thought I was overthinking Bill and the finale captioned: "I told you so").

Point is, the main characters of Gravity Falls (Dipper and Mabel) got so mischaracterized by fandom and fics back in the day.

Dipper was often pigeonholed as a goody-two-shoes awkward smart-guy nerd and fans complained he was OOC when he acted more vindictive in season 2, when, in fact, Dipper was always vindictive and could hold a mean grudge. (Dipper Pines, s1 ep8: "Revenge is underrated, that felt awesome!"). Dipper isn't a typical smart-guy character, yes, he's nerdy and clever and socially awkward, but he's also incredibly brave and determined. Honestly, Dipper's determination is his most defining trait, not his intelligence or intellect (which is sometimes more preformative, s2 ep7: "Sometimes I use big words and I don't actually know what they mean, I mean, I'm supposed to be the smart guy"), but I digress.

Mabel was the fandom's punching back around the finale of season 2 and the fandom treated her like a selfish horrible person for acting like a twelve-year-old girl who loves her brother. They made her out to be some kind of awful monstrous person when Mabel is one of the sweetest characters in media ever. She makes mistakes, she is a little selfish at times, but she truly cares about being a good person, about doing good and making people's lives better. Hell her worst confession was her feeling guilty about not loving all her stuffed animals equally and the fandom still called her evil. She also owns up to her mistakes, which is more than many people can say.

So, really, this disdain for the main characters and mischaracterization of them isn't new or unique to the HP fandom. I think it's been part of literature analysis since human literature existed if I'm being honest. It just feels worse now because everyone with an opinion has an internet connection and social media amplifies a lot of bad takes (but also a lot of good takes!). But, yeah, this is a prevalent fandom thing, but it isn't just the HP fandom.

As I said many times before, write and read whatever fanon content you feel like, have fun, but canon exists, and sometimes, canon is better.

[sideprince]

Hello hello, love your blog and all the meta! Do you have any thoughts or saved meta on Snape’s accent? I don’t remember us seeing any indications in book-canon about him having an accent that stands out in any way, but I’d imagine that a poor boy growing up in the midlands (or in the north, as we thought before Spinner’s End was revealed to be in Cokeworth), to have a strong regional accent. Since this is an obvious class marker would he have tried to tone it down or hide it as he got older in Hogwarts? Thoughts?

Hello! Thank you, I'm always surprised anyone reads my posts so that's such a nice thing to hear! I've actually been thinking about Snape's accent lately so I love this ask and also get out of my head.

The books seem to show Snape speaking the Queen's English (ie. the dialect spoken primarily in the South of England and considered by some to be "proper" English, those people being dismissive of regional dialects in ways I personally don't agree with). This can be deduced more from seeing how the dialogue of characters like Dobby and Hagrid are written than anything else. Hagrid is written as speaking with a thick West Country accent, with a lot of "yeh" instead of "you" and "ter" instead of "to" etc. You also see similar clearly denoted regional dialects with characters like Mundungus Fletcher (whose accent is Cockney):

“Blimey,” said Mundungus weakly ___ “Keep your ’airnet on!” said Mundungus

-Order of the Phoenix, Ch. 2

“Well, you’re a bunch of bleedin’ ‘eroes, then, aren’t you, but I never pretended I was up for killing meself -”

-Deathly Hallows, Ch. 11

Because we see these characters with their pronunciations clearly written into their dialogue, we're meant to assume the other characters speak the Queen's English, as no specific dialect is otherwise indicated. McGonagall is Scottish but it's never mentioned that her accent might be as well, and her dialogue doesn't indicate it is either. In fact, if you do a quick search on potter-search.com for the word "Scottish" the only instance that comes up in any of the HP books - which are set in the Scottish Highlands with McGonagall as a prominent Scottish character - is at the end of Deathly Hallows when the dragon the trio break out of Gringotts deposits them in the middle of a Scottish loch. It’s the only time the word Scottish is used in the whole series. I think that says a lot about JK Rowling as the writer and what her own biases are when it comes to writing representatively of the places her story - and its characters - inhabit.

I don't think Rowling put that much thought into Snape's accent and where he's from. The underlying message is that the Queen's English is the "default" accent and peppering her books with regional dialect in the dialogue of folksy characters like Hagrid gives them a bit of color, or that giving someone like Mundungus a Cockney accent denotes his being an untrustworthy criminal (and it's not exactly a revelation that she has unchecked internalized biases that show through her writing). But I also think that she wrote Snape with Alan Rickman in mind and that made her vision of him a bit conflicting, ie. she wrote his backstory as growing up in a Midlands slum and yet he speaks like the RADA trained actor she envisioned him as in her mind.

That won't stop me from coming up with meta about Snape's accent, though! I've been thinking about it lately, actually, because I see a lot of posts that talk about how he must have lost his accent at school to fit in with the other Slytherins, since there are, historically, many pure-bloods and Sacred 28 families in that house and he would have had a hard enough time fitting in as it was. I've always thought these theories made sense but lately I've been wondering if there could be an alternate reading of Snape's accent.

We don't really know much about Snape's mother but I've thought about how she might have come from a reasonably well-off wizarding family, or at the very least from a higher class background than she ended up raising her son in. Although most Brits grow up speaking with the accent of their region, some do grow up speaking how they're taught to at home if it diverges from other locals. The example that comes to mind is how John Lennon always had a scouse accent having grown up middle class in Liverpool, while Paul McCartney - also from Liverpool - spoke the Queen's English because his mother insisted on teaching him to speak it at home, despite their family being working class, in order to give him a leg up through the classist confines of British social classes.

So my own meta has lately been to play with the idea that Snape always spoke with the accent we see his adult self speaking with, because his mother wanted him to have a chance to do better in life than what she was able to give him (again, given how classist British society is, and was especially back in the 60s). It may also explain why he had so few friends as a child: if he was raised to speak the Queen's English in a working class slum, the other children may have ostracized him for it and he may have inadvertently alienated them.

The idea that Snape has always spoken with the accent he has as an adult is partly supported by the conversations we see between Snape and Lily as children, where Snape's accent isn't written in the regional dialects we see other characters having. There are a few minor moments where young Snape seems to have a Northern lilt, but it comes off more as something that slips into his speech than characterizes it, when compared to Mundungus or Hagrid (emphases mine):

‘We’re all right. We haven’t got wands yet. They let you off when you’re a kid and you can’t help it. But once you’re eleven,’ he nodded importantly, ‘and they start training you, then you’ve got to go careful.’ ______ ‘They wouldn’t give you to the Dementors for that! Dementors are for people who do really bad stuff. They guard the wizard prison, Azkaban. You’re not going to end up in Azkaban, you’re too -‘ He turned red again and shredded more leaves. Then a small rustling noise behind Harry made him turn: Petunia, hiding behind a tree, had lost her footing. ‘Tuney!’ said Lily, surprise and welcome in her voice, but Snape had jumped to his feet. ‘Who’s spying now?’ he shouted. ‘What d’you want?’

-Deathly Hallows, Ch. 33

There's a bit of Northern in how he says "you've got to go careful" and shortens "do you" into "d'you" but overall his speech is fairly standard Queen's English. It sounds more like a kid trying to sound cool, the way the Weasley twins and even Ron often do (Ron saying "geroff" to his mum, the twins shouting "oy" to each other or saying "blimey" even though they all grew up in Devon and their speech is generally also written following standard Queen's English).

Young Snape's accent may also have been something that caught Lily's attention or just put her at ease - seeing this skinny, twitchy kid wearing odd looking clothes and looking uncared for and poor but hearing him speak with a more familiar accent and vocabulary would have made it easier for her to connect with him. We see from Petunia's dialogue as an adult that she speaks the Queen's English, so we can assume the two girls grew up speaking it at home. There aren't really any colloquialisms in her speech, and what little (and it's really so, so little) we see of Lily seems to show the same.

Some people claim that Snape’s Northern accent comes out when he's triggered, but I can't find examples of it. At his most triggered in the Shrieking Shack in PoA, he still speaks as he always does:

'SILENCE! I WILL NOT BE SPOKEN TO LIKE THAT!’ Snape shrieked, looking madder than ever. ‘Like father, like son, Potter! I have just saved your neck, you should be thanking me on bended knee! You would have been well served if he’d killed you! You’d have died like your father, too arrogant to believe you might be mistaken in Black - now get out of the way, or I will make you. GET OUT OF THE WAY, POTTER!'

-Prisoner of Azkaban, Ch. 19

Even in HBP when he's fleeing and Harry triggers him, his speech is consistent with hiw it’s written through the rest of the series:

'No, Potter!’ screamed Snape. There was a loud BANG and Harry was soaring backwards, hitting the ground hard again, and this time his wand flew out of his hand. He could hear Hagrid yelling and Fang howling as Snape closed in and looked down on him where he lay, wandless and defenceless as Dumbledore had been. Snape’s pale face, illuminated by the flaming cabin, was suffused with hatred just as it had been before he had cursed Dumbledore. ‘You dare use my own spells against me, Potter? It was I who invented them - I, the Half-Blood Prince! And you’d turn my inventions on me, like your filthy father, would you? I don’t think so … no!’ Harry had dived for his wand; Snape shot a hex at it and it flew feet away into the darkness and out of sight. ‘Kill me, then,’ panted Harry, who felt no fear at all, but only rage and contempt. ‘Kill me like you killed him, you coward -‘ ‘DON’T -‘ screamed Snape, and his face was suddenly demented, inhuman, as though he was in as much pain as the yelping, howling dog stuck in the burning house behind them, ‘- CALL ME COWARD!'

-Half-Blood Prince, Ch. 28

There isn't really much in these moments to suggest a Northern accent coming out. So in a radical departure from the fandom, I've been mulling over the meta that Snape always had the accent we see him with. It's not as unlikely as people think, and certainly not impossible.

[dramioneasks]

HP FESTS: Dramione Month (Part 10)

Dramione Month 2024:

Dizzy at the Falling Stars by galaxy_skies - T, one-shot - Professor Snape has been teaching them the Patronus Charm for two weeks. Most of her fellow Dumbledore’s Army students have been pretending to struggle with the spell. Not Harry, though, of course. His stag careens impressively around the classroom until Snape tells him to stop posturing or it’ll turn into a peacock. And while everyone else is busy casting spells, Hermione has been busy watching Draco Malfoy.

Obliviate by WitchyWander - E, one-shot - The first time Hermione realised that Draco Malfoy wasn't the biggest git in wizarding Britain was the day he finally kissed her. Too bad Harry had to be an idiot and waltz into her office at the worst possible time.

Pansy Plans a Party by TheDarkFaerie - E, 3 chapters - Pansy is in charge of planning and running a special party. She's going to make sure that it's extra special. “Paperwork check,” a dangerously low satin of words rippled across the dark carpeted room, bringing silence to the goading voices all around Hermione’s ears. ** Long snippet from my full series re-write, currently in progress, called "A Moment of Leverage". ** [WARNINGS: Rape/Non-Con]

Obliviate by saneasluna - G, one-shot - He squeezes his eyes shut and tries to pull forward all the memories he can, a whirling kaleidoscope of colors. He tries to touch each moment with his mind one last time, fast forward through what’s been keeping him going this last year. That first kiss in front of the Black Lake, under darkness of night, their breaths coming out in puffs of cold as they bundled under his cloak.

Haven’t I given enough? by Goldenbuckydrabbles (Goldenbucky) - E, one-shot - She never imagined she would be face to face with the task of performing this devil of a spell for a second time. She digs deep into her emotions, trying to draw up the raw strength she needed the first time, filling herself with the same courage and resilience she had to feel to save her parents as she gears up to cast the spell. For, in the end, it’s to save his life. She has to be strong. She has to do this.

Lost Love by HCB123 - G, one-shot - Why did Draco refuse to identify the golden trio? What was really going on upstairs when Harry and Ron were locked in the dungeon listening to Hermione's screaming at the hands of Bellatrix Lestrange? A fic in which Draco is just a boy, trapped in an impossible situation wanting to do the right thing but external forces prevent him.

Meet Me in Margate by thehoneydoll - E, WIP - “Don’t you want to see?” Draco asks from beside her this time. Only as she turns, he’s there. Not just a voice at the edges of her mind, but there. Tall, slender, and pale as ever—his eyes sad and his shoulders hunched as he stares at her. He looks just as he had the last time she’d seen him. “Don’t you want to remember me one last time?” “No,” Hermione answers honestly, voice hoarse and throat tight as she considers it. “I didn’t know it’d be like this. They said I just had to go to sleep and I’d forget everything. I didn’t know I’d have to relive it first.” “It’s okay, Granger,” he says with a small tilt of his lips that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “In the morning it’ll all be over.” Or: The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind AU

Come Back to Me; I Love You Still by galaxy_skies - T, one-shot - Sometimes he pulls the memory out, on quiet lonely nights when the ache bites into his bones. When the curiosity gets too much to bear.

This fest is ongoing.

[xalandrix]

HP Rec Fest 2024 - Day 21

A fic rated M

i had trouble picking which fic to rec for this one, because there are so many good options that i love so much. ultimately i landed on The Practice of Everyday Life by @thegoblinmatriarch, which is a gorgeous and profound story about the importance of ritual. i read it six months ago and i still get emotional thinking about it.

the best way i can describe TheGoblinMatriarch's writing is to say that it feels lived-in: little details are rendered with such convincing clarity that everything becomes more vivid and impactful. and the result is a story that made me think about my own life differently.

also it's fun and funny and has a great plot! the Golden Trio and the Silver Trio as adults, working together to save magic! it's a truly spectacular fic. check it out!

(thanks to @hprecfest for the prompt!)

[joannerowling]

You seem to know a lot about JK so what do you think of this theory? She once claimed that Ron and Hermione as a couple was wish fullfilment, right? She also claimed she thought about killing Ron for no reason. Isn’t it true that Ron is based on an old friend of hers that owned a Ford Anglia? I wonder if she had a crush on him (Hermione is her self-insert, thus the wish fullfilment) and they had a falling out of some sorts. Maybe he wasn’t interested in her like that or maybe something more serious. She grew to resent Ron as a result. That’s why from GoF onwards his character flaws became so evident. It’s also why Ron was done so dirty in the movies. She enabled Kloves.

I think you have a good idea but not all the facts and a wrong conclusion because of it. We know that Ron is indeed based or partially inspired by Séan Harris, JKR's best friend when she was a teenager, who drove a Ford Anglia. Given that she also admitted that Hermione was a bit of an exaggeration of her, it's possible that the "wish fullfilment" bit could have been her admitting she once had a crush on that boy. However:

She never fell apart with Harris, they are still "foul weather friends" as she puts it, and it seems he's playing a part in helping her with the military background of Strike. He's a Royal Engineer. The profession comes up in the first Strike book, i think. She was also happily married to Neil Murray in 2001-2007 which was the period where she was writing the second half of HP. It doesn't seem like she would have been in the mental space to ressent a former flame;

She did at one point envision to kill Ron off, but it was probably more to do with a desire to make Harry suffer. Ron is Harry's favourite person safe for Ginny, his death would have been THE most devastating;

She did say she liked that Kloves seemed to love Hermione so much, but you have to keep that into context: between 1997 and 2001 (before the movies), Ron was by far the most popular character of the series and Hermione, not so much. It makes sense she would have been appreciative of someone who liked her unconventional booksmart heroine! It's true that Kloves was a self-confessed Harry/Hermione shipper, but if he had somehow been "enabled" by Jo, what was stopping her *then* from making Harry/Hermione endgame? She's had multiple opportunities to change her lane, but instead she kept them together and even made them kinda soulmates in The Cursed Child play (where they are very unhappy in the alternate time line where they're not together)

I think Ron's flaws showing up more as the story progresses is simply a natural consequence of Harry's own growing maturity, which goes faster than Ron's because his life is just more difficult. She didn't have a vendetta against him, she obviously likes all of the trio a lot, and you can echoes of Ron in her later novels. Also, her favourite HP character is Dumbledore so the idea that Ron being flawed would mean she likes him less doesn't sound right.

[pascaloverx]

To Begin Again

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

Summary: You're a new teacher at a large and influential school. It's a risky step for you, as you've been running from your ex for almost two years. But when Dumbledore asks you to take on a class at the renowned Hogwarts, you can't refuse. However, your life as a newly arrived teacher won't be easy. Especially when the other teachers don't seem eager to make friends. Or rather, two teachers in particular: Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.

Author's Note: Welcome, dear readers. Please leave your comments if you enjoy fanfiction. This fanfic takes place almost in the real world (with the addition of werewolves) and is not a wizarding fanfic. There will be some differences and changes in things from the Harry Potter story or other fanfics in the HP universe, but I promise to do my best writing this fanfic. Dear readers, I'm back. With a significant time jump, Harry, Draco, and others who were once children are now teenagers, almost adults. More mature themes will be portrayed in this fanfic. Come and see how Y/N navigates her new life as a maternal figure for Draco while trying to help Sirius and Harry move forward with their lives. Enjoy the read!

TWENTY

After much searching, you finally spot Harry with Hermione and Ron at the far edge of Hogwarts' grounds. They’re darting around a large tree, chasing each other with carefree laughter. The sight is almost endearing—if not for the ever-persistent presence of Remus, who has followed you the entire way, his silent proximity wearing on your nerves.

"Harry, dear, we must be going," you call, your tone polite yet firm, hoping to hasten his departure. The trio stops their playful antics, turning their attention to you. Harry, still catching his breath, offers a sheepish smile before glancing at Hermione and Ron, as if reluctant to leave the fun. The three approach, their camaraderie evident as they exchange grins and small nudges.

"Professor Grindelwald! It's been ages since the last time we saw each other," Ron exclaims, his enthusiasm evident as he wraps you in an unexpectedly tight embrace.

"Ron, you're going to suffocate the professor," Hermione scolds, swatting his arm lightly, though there's a fondness in her tone. Meanwhile, Harry stands rooted in place, his eyes fixed on Lupin. His expression betrays a mix of confusion and hesitation, as though he's unsure how to react to his former mentor’s presence.

"Hermione and Ron, you've grown so much. You seem sharper now," you say warmly, your gaze softening. "There's no need to call me Professor or Mrs. Grindewald anymore. Just call me by my name from now on. Perhaps you could visit us at the former Malfoy residence—maybe tomorrow for dinner? I can ask Minerva to grant you permission," you suggest, gently holding Harry's arm to reassure him.

"Does that mean we'll have to see Malfoy again?" Ron asks with a disdainful tone, his lips curling slightly. He doesn't seem thrilled by the prospect. However, Hermione kisses his cheek gently, and the gesture softens him visibly.

"We would love to, Mrs.—I mean, Y/N," Hermione replies with a bright smile, her arm sliding around Ron's in a way that suggests more than just friendship. It seems Draco and Harry aren’t the only ones harboring complicated feelings.

"You're living in the Malfoy house? And you brought Harry there?" Remus suddenly interjects, his voice laden with disbelief. His indignation is palpable, as if he’s only just now piecing the information together.

"Not that it’s any of your concern, but yes," you reply sharply, your gaze narrowing. "The former Malfoy residence is as capable of being a home as any other. And as Harry, like Draco, is under my care, he will live under the same roof as me. I understand that your style is more that of a guardian who prioritizes romance over those he should be caring for, but I am not like that."

Turning your attention back to the trio, you soften your tone. "Now, children, I’ll speak to Minerva tomorrow morning and come fetch you to visit our home." You gesture for Harry to say his goodbyes to his friends.

"I'll bring them tomorrow," Remus interjects, his voice calm but assertive, as if trying to stake some claim in the situation.

"I would like him to come as well..." Harry says hesitantly, his tone revealing both uncertainty and a desire for Lupin's presence. You step back slightly, caught off guard, but quickly compose yourself, nodding in agreement. "Very well, then. It’s settled—Remus will bring the two of you and join us for dinner at our home," you reply, your tone calm but with a hint of reluctance.

Remus seems pleased with his apparent victory. You assume it’s due to the opportunity to see Harry and Sirius, but truthfully, you’d rather not have him as a guest in your home right now. Harry bids farewell to Ron and Hermione with a warm embrace, the three whispering something to one another before parting ways. You and Harry then head toward your car, trailed by Remus for reasons unknown.

“There’s no need to accompany us, Remus,” you say, walking alongside Harry, making your stance clear. Harry chuckles softly under his breath, glancing at Remus with a look that could only be described as pity.

"It’s a pleasure to be in your company, Y/N," Remus remarks with condescension, placing a hand on Harry’s head and ruffling his hair as though to demonstrate the closeness of their bond. "I also want Harry to know that, despite your obvious disdain for me, I will always be nearby."

"Of course," you reply with biting sarcasm, "because it was clearly I who distanced you from him and not your blatant lack of commitment." Harry chuckles softly, glancing between the two of you. "I thought you two had worked things out," he mutters, amused by the ongoing battle of barbs between you and Lupin.

"There is nothing between us, Harry," you say firmly, just as Remus chimes in, "I thought things were fine as well, child." For a moment, you lock eyes with Remus, as though trying to decipher where exactly the two of you stand. His expression is unreadable, yet there’s a flicker of something that leaves you unsettled.

"I’ll wait for you in the car. Goodbye, Remus," Harry interjects, offering a quick farewell before heading off. His departure leaves an awkward silence lingering between you and Remus.

"If you wish to bring your fiancée along tomorrow, feel free. I'm certain Sirius and the boys will thoroughly enjoy everyone's company," you say with a sweetness that borders on mockery.

"Sirius is with you?" Remus asks, his tone a peculiar mixture of curiosity and hurt. You pause, narrowing your gaze at him. "He is. Where else would he be? Abandoned, like before?" you retort, letting your words linger in the air, sharp enough to sting.

"You shouldn't speak of what you don't know, Y/N. You have no idea what I went through with Black; don't judge me without understanding the whole story," Remus says, his gaze steady but tinged with disappointment. Yet his eyes seem distant, lost in some memory.

"I apologize if I have upset you. I'm leaving now, but I will expect you tomorrow with Ron and Hermione for dinner," you reply curtly, turning to make your way to the car.

Before you can reach the door, Remus grabs your arm, his grip firm but not forceful. "Thank you, at least, for allowing me to be near him," he says, his eyes flickering toward Harry, who remains obliviously focused on the view outside.

"Don’t thank me. If it were up to me, neither you nor Sirius would be anywhere near Harry," you retort coldly, shaking off his hand before stepping into the car. Without waiting for a response, you start the engine and drive away, leaving Remus standing there with his thoughts.

Harry is distracted by the music playing in the car while your thoughts wander to everything that's been happening in your life. As you park, you notice Draco's car already in the driveway—Sirius and Draco must have arrived ahead of you.

Stepping inside with Harry, you're immediately greeted by chaos. Sirius is covered in vomit, struggling to hold up Draco, who is clearly drunk.

"What in the world did you do to him, Black?" you nearly shout, your blood boiling with anger.

"Mom, don’t yell at him. He let me try... try... what was it again?" Draco slurs, his voice unusually soft and syrupy. Harry bursts into laughter at the scene, while your glare at Sirius intensifies.

"After we finished all we had to do, Malfoy asked me to take him somewhere fun. I figured teaching him how to drink beer would be a good idea," Sirius explains, still supporting Draco, who now clings to Sirius’s neck and reaches out to pull you closer to them.

"How could it possibly be a good idea to give beer to a damn teenager, Black?!" you exclaim, wanting to kill Sirius Black. "Mom, you don't have to yell," Draco slurs, still clinging to Sirius.

"He needs a bath," you whisper, and Sirius nods in agreement. The stench of Draco's vomit is killing your sense of smell.

"Take responsibility for your actions and bathe him, you irresponsible fool," you say in a low voice, gripping Sirius by the collar of his shirt.

"You want me to bathe Draco?" Sirius asks, as if the suggestion were utterly absurd. Admittedly, it does sound rather peculiar.

"I can help him, if you’d prefer," Harry interjects, cutting through your argument with Sirius.

"Harry Potter wants to see me naked, wants to see me naked," Draco says, grinning without a care in the world. He's still holding onto you and Sirius, swaying like he's caught in some private, offbeat rhythm only he can hear.

"Draco, no one is going to see you naked," you snap, trying to regain control of the situation. He pivots to face you, his expression playful and slightly glazed. With a mischievous tone, he murmurs, "Don’t ruin my fun, Mum," as if this is all part of the joke.

"Look, Black, you're lucky your smell is almost as bad as Draco's. Go take a shower while Harry and I deal with Malfoy; but don’t think for a second that I won’t kill you," you say, fighting the urge to rip his hair out.

"Understood, ma'am. I’ll go get my shower before I'm sentenced," Sirius replies, almost sarcastically, before running off. What an idiot. You give Harry a nod, and together you help Draco toward their bathroom. The weight of the situation doesn’t quite hit you yet; you’re too focused on getting Draco cleaned up. He’s still giggling and swaying in your arms, his words slurred but relentless, clearly enjoying the chaos.

With some difficulty, the two of you manage to prepare a bath for Draco in the bathtub. Poor Harry had to help you strip Draco of his vomit-covered clothes and hold him while you adjusted the water temperature.

"I can close my eyes if you want to drown him," Harry says, his voice light and joking, as you carefully lower Draco into the bath, now wearing nothing but his underwear. You can’t help but chuckle, despite the madness of it all. It’s hard to be angry when Harry is trying so hard to make light of the situation. Draco, on the other hand, is too far gone to notice, mumbling something about the water being too cold and asking for more alcohol.

"Harry, can you tell Mommy to tell Sirius he was a good fake dad?" Draco says, playfully splashing the water with his hands.

Harry laughs, watching Draco as if he's the most adorable thing in the world. "You think you can take care of him? I need to put the clothes in the washing machine and kill Sirius," you say, the exhaustion finally hitting you.

Harry nods, still chuckling. "Don’t worry, I’ll keep him entertained." He gives Draco a gentle shove, as if telling him to calm down for a moment. "And don't go too hard on Sirius. I get that Draco wants to do these things with him. In one of the letters he sent me in the past, Malfoy said he wanted to know what it was like to drink with a father or go fishing," Harry says, defending Sirius.

"Do you feel the same way?" you ask, gently helping Draco lather his hair. Draco is so absorbed in the bubbles of the bath that he's stopped talking altogether.

"In this moment, I’m content. I barged into your life not too long ago, and you’ve been treating me like you want to protect me. It makes me feel good. Knowing I don’t have to face everything alone. And before you worry, I’ve had beer once, and I didn’t like the taste," Harry says with a smile, and you pull him into a hug.

"I’m glad I don’t have to worry about you," you say softly, giving Harry a comforting hug. "Now, help this silly boy get dressed and give him some water. He’s going to need it," you add, stepping away from Harry and heading out of the boys' bathroom.

You run toward Sirius, fury boiling in your veins. You recall that he likely went to take a shower in your bathroom, so you storm into your room. To your surprise, you come face to face with Sirius, towel wrapped around his waist, water still dripping from his face and body, leaving you momentarily stunned. "How can you be so reckless?" you ask, stepping closer. He looks up, startled, as he finally notices you.

"Look, I know I screwed up, but you need to understand that it was probably the most genuine moment I've had with Draco since I met the kid. He needed it, and I gave in. I recognize it was wrong, but I don't regret it," Sirius explains, stepping closer to you. You shrug off your coat, wanting to be more comfortable and, truth be told, because Draco had ruined it with his vomit.

"You should go to hell, Sirius," you snap, your tone sharp as you toss your soiled coat onto a nearby chair. "I trusted you to look after Draco, and he came back completely drunk," you say, your voice firm but less sharp now. "If we're going to care for these boys together, I need to know you can be the responsible adult in this arrangement." You pause, studying Sirius as his expression shifts from guilt to cautious curiosity. With a sigh, you continue, softening just slightly.

"That being said—thank you for giving Draco that moment. Harry told me how much it meant to him, and I’m glad he could have that experience, even if the execution was reckless." Your words feel conflicted, but you hope they convey your frustration while also acknowledging his effort. You cross your arms, waiting for Sirius to respond, your eyes never leaving his.

He steps closer, closing the distance between you, and captures your lips in a fervent, almost inexplicable kiss. For a moment, you find yourself responding, drawn into the intensity of it, before you pull back slightly, murmuring, "Why did you kiss me?" Your voice carries both confusion and a tinge of breathlessness as you await his response.

"I thought it was the right way to end this discussion," Sirius replies, his words barely more than a whisper against your lips, his tone both teasing and disarmingly earnest.

"I admire your boldness, but it would be best if you left. This is hardly the time for fiery kisses and... erotic thoughts," you say, shaking your head as though trying to deny even to yourself the direction of your mind.

"I wasn’t having any erotic thoughts. But I’ll respect your timing, Y/N," Sirius replies, his voice low yet teasing as he remains close for a moment longer before stepping back. He finally exits your room, leaving you with a lingering heat that you try, and fail, to dismiss entirely.

[takaraphoenix]

I have incredibly mixed feelings on how much I enjoy the way the show writes Percy and his perception of the world.

Because episode 3 and the way they handled Medusa proved that it's all lip-service and there won't be an actual change. And that is going to be devastating.

Percy's perception of the gods and of what is going on, his anger - and the way he articulates that anger - feel so real, so refreshing and so reasonable.

This show perfectly sets up a better version of Percy Jackson. One where Percy actually rebels against the gods. Every single thing he says makes him sound like the future leader of the Demigod Rebellion. But they wouldn't stray this damn far from canon, so we get to hear Percy say all these things... just to end up defending the status quo, and that's going to feel even more unrewarding than it did in the books now.

Because the thing is, and I've had this thought on my mind for a couple of days when I came across a post comparing Percy Jackson and Harry Potter in a "JKR sucks and there are so many more superior children's book series out there" manner - which, in itself, is very true, and I do think PJO is a good book series and there are many things about it that I love. However, inexplicably, the OP of that post managed to pick the one angle in which PJO and HP are the exact same thing actually, but they still claimed PJO did something that HP didn't. That Harry fell back and defended a shitty system while Percy rebelled.

Percy Jackson in the books did not in fact rebel. He fell in line and he spent the entire damn series defending the shitty system. In-universe, the author explains this away with Percy's fatal flaw and him defending his friends and 'not the gods'. But that doesn't change that he ends up defending the gods and working on keeping them in power.

And the sequel series serves as a proof of that point. Because absolutely nothing changed. The children are still cannon fodder in the war of the gods. And still, the children fight for the gods, die for the gods.

Someone, some people in this fandom really deluded themselves into thinking of Percy Jackson as a great rebel against the gods, just because he... snarks at them and sasses them. But in the greater scheme of things, he always does what the gods want, he always saves their asses, he does not rebel or rise against them, he does not break down an oppressive system.

If this series were about actually rebelling against the oppressive force and breaking the broken system, then Percy Jackson would be part of the rebel army. Then he would be fighting against the gods.

But even the notion of "actually, these children who are rising against the gods who used and abused and neglected them all their lives might... have a... point" is stomped down with the fact that no actually Luke was influenced and corrupted by Kronos' force!!

In the version of Percy Jackson where it's about rebellion, Luke would not have been influenced by Kronos, because damn his mother's insanity caused by his father, his own homelessness, Thalia's death, the scarring he received during an entirely unnecessary quest in the name of his father, and literally every single demigod he has seen suffer and die because of the whims of the gods would have been motivation enough to start a rebel army against the gods.

And in that version about rebellion, Percy's friendship with Luke, and Annabeth's friendship with Luke, and Grover's ties to Luke from having been his satyr partner too, paired with all of the personal suffering endured by them all, would have lead to the Golden Trio joining that rebellion.

And we would have seen demigods rise up against the gods and, as in Greek mythology where the titans rose and took over from Uranus and Gaia and then the gods rose and took over from the titans, the next generation would have come into power, and actually changed the system.

But none of that happened. What happens is that children die, so the gods can stay in power because ~Kronos~ is actually behind the rebellion and hey, now the gods have to claim their kids and we will build more cabins and that's totally change, right? ...Right?

No. Because the kids are still cannon fodder. And the gods still don't give a damn about them, as proven by Hera just memory-wiping the greatest heroes and playing with them like dolls in the sequel, where the gods don't even have the basic respect for the heroes to... simply sit them down and tell them what the hell is going on.

And! That's not even necessarily a criticism of the books! Plenty of books are about keeping the status quo, especially children's books, especially books written by middle-aged white men. A broad variety of stories have a right to exist. This is a criticism of people who look at the books and pretend that they are about something they are not.

And this is a statement of personal disappointment in how much the show is setting up a potential to be something more, while I know very well it will never deliver on that.

The show is giving Percy so many good lines about what is wrong about this system, about the way the world works, is giving him so many doubts about it.

Just like it gave him doubts about monsters. And then it allowed Medusa her speech about being a victim. but never mind, she still asked something bad of Percy, so it's okay to behead her, because at the very core of this series... it's still about keeping the status quo.

The gods are in charge. The monsters get killed.

[whinlatter]

I need to know how you think Ginny or Hp characters in general reacted to the death of Princess Diana. She died right before Ginny left for Hogwarts her 6th year. I know wizards aren’t into muggle culture but Lady Di transcends cultural barriers. Plus that trio looking for the queens purse advert is definitely canon.

i did not expect this ask, and i regret to inform you my response to it was to write the following incredibly stupid ficlet about ginny and the death of princess diana. don't ask me why i did this because i don't know!

The last day of August 1997, she comes downstairs in her dressing gown and finds Kingsley in the kitchen with a Muggle newspaper that says that Princess Diana is dead. ‘Car crash,’ he says, pushes the paper across the table. No-one’s shared news of any sort with her in weeks - the only child and non-Order member of the house, at best an irrelevance and at worse a nuisance for the crumbling wartime resistance - so she forgets about the kettle she's just boiled and sits down, snatches up the paper, reads hungrily. High speed car chase, it says, Diana and her boyfriend, in a tunnel in Paris, being chased down by paparazzi. ‘I met her once,’ says Kingsley, musingly, sipping his tea.

She looks up. ‘Really?’

‘Mmm. With the Muggle PM.’

‘What was she like?’

Kingsley thinks about it. ‘Funny,’ he says. ‘But sad.’ 

She hangs on to the paper. When she’s inevitably ousted from the kitchen by the arrival of yet more Order folk with important business and no trace of interest in her, she takes it up to her room, clears a space on the floor between the maps of the castle she's been memorising and her now dog-eared copy of The Dark Arts Outsmarted and flattens it out on the floor. The Muggle pictures of the princess, of course, don’t move. Yet Diana manages to always be in motion in the photographs, full of life, running and dancing and gallivanting, long legs stretching across roads or dangling off the end of great boats, her speeding across ocean waves on what looks like a water motorbike or down steep snowy slopes on bits of wood with poles in her hands. She's forced to hoist Crookshanks up and out of the way when he tries to paw his way across the pull-out spread of Diana in her wedding dress. 'You used to live with Muggles sometimes, didn't you?’ she demands of a squirming Crookshanks. ‘Show a bit of respect.'

She’d known about the princess before, of course. Hard to avoid her, even among wizards. The Muggleborn girls had started it, tacking up endless pictures of her many outfits on their walls. Their better-blooded peers had followed, and she’d thought even the Slytherins would be unable to deny there was a magic, a magnetism, to Diana, in  fabulous dresses one day and the coolest of boyish suits the next, all draped off of her long, lean frame with an effortless elegance that most of the awkward adolescent girls of the castle could only dream of. There was a time, in the run-up to the Yule Ball, when you couldn’t move for pictures of that dress. ‘It’s her revenge dress,’ Lavender had informed her matter-of-factly at dinner, ‘because her husband cheated on her with a married woman he’d been in love with years before.’ An off-the-shoulder slinky black number with the chunky pearl necklace, the dress had been the envy of every witch in the castle. ‘I’d definitely pull Diggory if I had that dress,’ a sixth-year girl had  lamented to her mates over the sinks in the fifth-floor girls’ bathroom the next day.

That evening, her own dress from her mother had arrived. She’d sent for it, when Neville had asked her to the ball, bestowing upon her the dubious honour of being the second most pitying girl in all of Gryffindor. It’s an old one of Molly’s from the sixties. She’d always admired it on her mum in old photographs taken before she was hers, worn on nights out and parties from a past life that her mother only hints at, with a twinkle in her eye and a firmly zipped lip. Now, though, the dress looked all wrong - too chaste, too floral, not an ounce of sex appeal about it, throughly unmemorable and unlikely to catch a single eye, fresh-pickled toad-green or otherwise.

(In her bunk that night, she'd lain awake and taunted herself with cruel, self-flagellating fantasy. Imagined striding past the Boy Who Lived wearing that dress, the revenge one, making him regret he’d ever asked Cho Chang to the ball, making him forget all about her shiny hair and her pretty smile and her cool friends and her easy grace, making him notice someone else instead - his best mate’s feral little sister who is funny, actually, just not when he’s around, and whom he last seemed to have thought about when he’d hauled her off her own deathbed, and never since.)

As adolescence wore on, though, she’d soured on Diana. Too chic to be likeable, rich girl with a life of frocks and endless frolicking, intolerably poised and swan-like. The sight of her glimpsed on Muggle newsstand in the village stirred up the same feelings of eye-roll envy as her sister-in-law, which always boded ill. Looking at her now, though, she wonders if there wasn’t something she’d missed, something else to her. Diana’s set jaw looks more guarded than she remembered. The wide eyes ringed by thick smudgy black she’d once thought coquettish now look lost, full of reproach.

Dean’s mum, she remembers now, had loved her. ‘She won’t hear a bad word about her,’ he’d said, rolling his eyes. ‘Says she was the best thing that ever happened to that family.’ Ever her father’s daughter, she’d pestered him with endless questions, like she did all things Muggle: about the divorce, about the royals and succession and the Muggle press and the high drama of it all, until he’d got bored and suggested they go find a broom cupboard, get down to more serious business. Wonders how Dean’s mum must be feeling today. But then she remembers her son is, for all intents and purposes, Muggleborn in a new regime that wants him dead, and suddenly feels slightly sick. She puts the paper away, then, and gets back on with packing up her war room for the morning’s train journey out to the front.

Diana’s sons, the paper said, survive her. They’re called William, and Harry. Good names, in her book. She can't help but think of them as she packs, the boys - children, who woke up one morning to find themselves motherless.

‘It’s mayhem in London,’ says her father, that night, over dinner. ‘There’s hundreds of people outside the palace, leaving flowers and things. I’ve never seen anything like it. There'll be a big public funeral - all the royal family will have to be there, including the boys. They'll have no choice. The Muggles are heartbroken. I dread to think what would happen if there was an attack during that - Kingsley, we ought to talk more about that, actually...'

'Those poor children,' her mother whispers, though that’s nothing new, these days — she whispers that every night.

'Are they still in London?' she asks her dad, quietly, over the washing up. 'At Grimmauld? Have you heard anything?'

'No news, dear. I'd tell you if I knew.'

Lying awake that night with her trunk packed, she wonders if this has all passed them by - her brother and almost-sister and the boy who lived she knows she’s supposed to forget. She imagines them sat the table in that grungy basement kitchen, newspaper spread in front of them. Perhaps they, too, have been poring over Diana's finest outfits, in memoriam. Probably not, though — not with a murder to plot, a Dark Lord to kill, a Tom to hunt. Three child soldiers with a war to win.

Still, the thoughts persist as she tries to fall asleep. Thinks about being hunted, boys without mothers, a city full of mourners. Muggles with their tears and their flowers and their prams at the palace gates. It’s like it's the end of something, something fun and frivolous, dress-up and glamour and girlhood. One day, you're thirteen and looking at princesses in party dresses in the newspaper — and the next, you're sixteen, and the newspapers tell you that the parties are over and the princesses are dead. Something about the tragedy of the thing. The pointlessness, the waste.

artwork: diana and her nymphs hunting by paul de vos (1636)

[jupiter-mylove]

HEADCANNONS

James

-This man definitely gives piggy back rides, he doesn’t care if you think your heavy or anything. He would sprint through the halls carrying you in his back if you said you were tired.

-He’s a really good cook. He isn’t Gordon Ramsey but he can make home cooked meals almost as good as his momma. Man would totally make Alfredo or some kind of pasta for your first date.

-If you play quidditch on the Gryffindor team he would make sure you didn’t have practice while you were on your period (if you have one!) or if your sick

-If you wear his clothes he will pull you onto his lap, and show it off. Loves when people know your his <3

Remus

-Always makes sure he has a book with him that you might like, especially on the train or during classes. Will definitely annotate books and gift them to you so you can read the book and all his silly thoughts with it

-Would be so scared to tell you about his lycanthropy but will be super happy and grateful that you weren’t mad. He loves you and wants to be able to be honest but didn’t know how to break the news.

-Would always help you with your homework. Even if you don’t ask, he’s gonna proofread you essays and double check your astronomy charts.

-GIVES THE BEST MASSAGES! If your stuff after a long day, he will legit sit you down, massage your shoulders, and kiss your neck while asking about your day.

Sirius

-Cuddle bug right here, he always wants to be cuddled up next to you, on the common room couch, train compartment, three broomsticks booth, bench in the great hall, or by the black lake.

-Kisses are a must, if you haven’t had at least five kisses by breakfast he’s afraid you might die. James, Remus, and Peter tried to get him to do a prank and miss breakfast and he whined the whole time because he "didn’t get a second good morning kiss."

-At parties (especially his annual famous birthday party) he makes you dance with him so much. Every song, all night, every kind of dance. He somehow knows all the lyrics to every song they play and will sing the night away. Don’t let him get started on karaoke, though.

Peter (no I won’t exclude him, he’s a marauder too)

-Peter is the kind of guy that would take care of you when your sick. He goes full mum mode and brings you soup, checks your temp, and makes sure you get rest.

-He makes sure that the boys don’t prank you too bad, but if they do and you prank them back he would team up with you so he didn’t get on your bad side.

-I personally headcannon Peter to be neurodivergent and I think he would have trouble focusing in classes and things. He would lace your fingers together and play with your jewelry in class.

-Peter is really sweet and would never forget a date, special day, or anniversary. He brings you sunflowers to all of the dates, and charms them to not wilt

(A/N this is my first post on here! I have been in the marauders fandom for three years and the hp fandom for 12 years. I love all of these characters. I will write for the marauders era girls, regulus/+skittles, poly!marauders, golden trio era, and other fandoms if requested!)

LEAVE REQUESTS FOR ONESHOTS (x reader) AND MORE HEADCANNONS

[imtrashraccoon]

Can I request something based on something you reblogged to your side blog? The one about canon papyrus being the only one who doesn’t baby/belittle worry about sans?

Also, I think he’s the smartest of the main AU trio (swap, fell, and canon) because his sole passion being puzzles instead of Murder and Timelines. so including something like that?

Sorry, I’ve never requested a writing thing before but I love your work so much! ^_^

💬

Of course you can, Anon! I hope you like headcanons though because I had no idea how I'd write a crossover like this lol

For those wondering, this is the post in question.

I will preface this by mentioning that I have nicknames for each of these precious bois.

Undertale Sans: Classic

Undertale Papyrus: Vanilla

Underfell Sans: Red

Underfell Papyrus: Edge

Underswap Sans: Dell

Underswap Papyrus: Saffron

Also, I headcanon that Sans is the elder brother in these AU's although the actual age gap may vary. I usually go with about eight years difference because I like the idea of Sans raising Papyrus by himself after Gaster was scattered across time and space. One other thing I should mention is that the Underfell brothers have LV and so Red's HP is higher, but compared to the rest of the Underground, he might as well only have 1 HP.

Papyrus' Thoughts On Sans' Low HP

- While Classic is the weakest monster Vanilla knows, he also knows that his older brother worked extremely hard for years to raise them. They didn't have anyone else and until Vanilla had outgrown his stripes, he was reliant on his brother for everything. They had occasional disagreements of course as children normally do, but no matter what happened they still had each other.

- If Classic was able to do all that, he can handle himself well enough, now if only he could motivate himself enough to properly look after himself. To put it frankly, he respects his brother and loves him dearly.

- Vanilla certainly worries quite a bit about his brother. While Classic is well liked by almost everyone, everytime he gets into an encounter could be the last time. They actually used to spar quite a bit when Vanilla was learning how to use his magic but Classic always avoided every attack. They had to stop though when Vanilla got a little too competitive and Classic began having a hard time keeping up. That was just before Papyrus started trying to join the Royal Guard.

- Vanilla has taken over most of the household responsibilities now, mostly because Classic is struggling with some things, but also because he finds enjoyment in a job well done. While he doesn't really understand what his older brother is going through, Vanilla still loves him dearly and will do anything to try and support him. He's confident that he can help, afterall, he is the Great Papyrus! He is the best at encouraging and supporting his loved ones.

- While Red did his best to raise Edge on his own, they struggled to survive for several years and both had strong personalities which led to many, many fights. They are very much family as they both share the same stubborn nature and are hot-headed to a fault. Unfortunately, this led Edge to resent Red as he didn't think his older brother's rules made any sense. He was the Great and Terrible Papyrus after all! Anyone who would dare challenge him to a fight must have a death wish! It also didn't help that Red wasn't the nicest, but neither was Edge either.

- As soon as Edge was out of his stripes, he got a reality check real quick. Apparently, not everyone would leave him alone, now that he wasn't seen as a child, if he taunted or insulted them. This was when he found out how low Red's HP was. Even Edge had far higher HP and he'd barely been in any encounters so far.

- Cue Edge hatching a plan to both protect themselves (while he resents his brother, he doesn't wish him dead because he's the only one he's got) and elevate his status in monster society like he'd always dreamed. He trained day and night to get stronger and as soon as he could pass as the minimum age to apply, he joined the Royal Guard. As the years passed by, he only grew more ruthless and while Red tried to rein him in before he inevitably got himself killed, Edge was far stronger than he'd thought.

- Red had already been struggling to motivate himself to do basic tasks and so he gave up. He'd done everything he could but Edge had long stopped listening to him, so what point was there in trying? He still looked out for his younger brother of course as he'd made many connections over the years. He just had to endure the constant insults and belittling. It was better than being dead though...right?

- As far back as he remembers, Saffron always had Dell and they were pretty much alone. No matter what happened, Dell always kept a bright smile on his skull and assured Saffron that they would get through it together. Saffron soon noticed that despite his older brother's attempts to be popular and well liked, his continued attempts to befriend people only served to drive them away.

- He had a much easier time making friends and he came to be known as the chill, funny skeleton. Dell was almost uptight in comparison, which Saffron didn't understand. What was the point in getting all worked up and bothered if something didn't go to plan? Still, his brother is pretty magnificent, and he'll always cheer him on.

- Saffron sometimes feels like he's the oldest because he is seen as the more mature one. While deep down he doesn't mean to, it's easy to brush off his brother's ambitions for a more reasonable approach. He won't actually say it out loud, but he is often embarrassed by his brother's antics.

- He got used to pulling strings and calling in favours behind Dell's back, just so his brother could remain blissfully ignorant to what people really think of him. Saffron knows that despite how good of a fighter his brother is, with how low his HP is, he wouldn't last long in a real fight. So he often subtly steers him away from potentially dangerous situations so that he can continue being that beacon of joy and hope for those who need it, like himself for one.

As For Vanilla Being The Smartest...

- I'm not going to rank these characters on an intelligence scale because they're all smart. They just have different interests in my opinion.

- To be fair, Vanilla is passionate about a lot of things, like his friends, his future ambitions, and his various hobbies like cooking and planning battles with his action figures. It just so happens that creating puzzles and usually non-lethal traps is one of the things he is most passionate about.

- Thinking up brand new ideas for puzzles and then actually making them is certainly good exercise for his brain, even if he doesn't actually have one. Most monsters, and later humans as well, don't see that about him though. They see his naturally cheerful and sometimes oblivious demeanor as just that and only those close to Vanilla ever truely see him.

- Sure, Vanilla is a bit slower on the uptake in certain social situations but he isn't dumb at all, far from it! He's the type of guy that would figure out the solution to one of those trick puzzle gadgets surprisingly quickly and then immediately build his own that's much harder. He would get a kick out of a Rubik's cube but would end up trying to make different patterns with the coloured sections rather than simply keep solving it.

- Edge also has a lot of passion, unfortunately he is only publicly passionate about being a Royal Guard and fighting. Behind closed doors though, he has many interests, some of which even his brother isn't aware of. He is passionate about cooking and his future ambitions of course, but he's also secretly a bit of a nerd and he has a soft spot for animals. He'll do anything for his precious Doomfanger and he likes to collect human things like books and electronics.

- While Edge does make traps and puzzles, they lack the finesse of Vanilla's and are generally always lethal. Well that's not entirely true, but they'll definitely maime any unlucky person that gets caught and if they're still alive, Edge pretty much always finishes the job. He tries not to think about it much, but a part of him dislikes putting people out of their misery and he often feels relieved when he just finds monster dust.

- Edge definitely has a better combat sense than either Vanilla or Saffron though, but it's because of the rough world he grew up in and all the experience he has. Also, having high LV makes hurting people a lot easier, both physically and emotionally. The other two would probably still be able to give him a run for his money if they ever sparred, although Vanilla would last longer than Saffron just because he likes fighting more.

- Saffron is an interesting case, as he's technically a combination of Vanilla's appearance but with Classic's personality. He doesn't care for a lot of things anymore as he doesn't see the point. He has quite a few interests though that neither Vanilla or Edge share.

- Despite his overall lazy demeanor, Saffron could qualify as a genius if he applied himself. Growing up, he regularly devoured any and all books he could find, both from the Librarby and the dump. He was, and still is to an extent, interested in technical and scientific things, including theoretical physics. He's friends with Undyne of course, to the extent where she occasionally asks for his input with various projects. Saffron would probably have an easy time if he wanted to apply to be a Royal Scientist so he could be more involved, but he doesn't want to go through all the effort. He quite likes being the lazy, carefree brother.

- Otherwise, Saffron enjoys making people laugh, more often groan, with his humor and he's constantly thinking up puns for various situations. He's also musically gifted but doesn't play much, except to provide incidental humour. (Would he also play trombone or something else? I'm not sure...) Another thing Saffron is good at, is gathering information on people. He's very observant, he has to be though with his role as Judge, and the ease at which he can make friends comes in handy when doing so.

[ashesandhackles]

HP Reread - Order of Phoenix (Part 2)

Chapter 13,14

"Ron was now so low in his seat that his nose was on his knees". when Hermione confronts Fred and George about them testing sweets on first years. Also, living with Weasleys made Hermione realise what is a below the belt threat for Fred and George: write to Molly. XD (also the reason Ron is reluctant to go against Fred and George, something he was willing to do last year in GOF with the whole blackmail scheme, is due to reminders of Percy as Ron now holds the Prefect badge.)

love that both Hermione and Ron had opportunities to not read the room XD Ron getting on Cho's case about being a Tornadoes supporter when its clear she wanted to talk to Harry, and Hermione with Luna after she expresses her support to Harry. And Hermione being like "No REGRATS" after Harry is all, "Do you mind not offending the only people who believe me?" XD

"And it looks like it's going to rain" "what's that got to do with homework?" "Nothing" Ron is training for Quidditch secretly <3 I like that his arc is trying to define himself on his own terms (esp after the falling out with Harry in GOF which was because he felt overshadowed) - and the fact he takes initiative to practise for Quidditch, to be on team, is a step in that direction.

Harry enters Umbridge's office, and immediately takes the scene as a battle of wills. An adult being horrendous/violent is not a surprise to him, so what counts as "winning" for him in this situation is to not show he is in pain, or to check the time for when he would be allowed to go, or ask or to even complain to Ron and Hermione about it. There is also a lot of shame surrounding abuse, and ideas of weakness in admitting something like that happened to you.

Ron and Harry having a moment - where Ron reveals he wants to try for Keeper, and Harry tells him about Umbridge. It is incredible that Ron, a peer, got Harry to open up about something that has shame surrounding it. Speaks to how safe Ron makes Harry feel.

Both Hermione and Ron egging him to go to Dumbledore at different time: it's clear these two co-parents have discussed him. Also Harry discussing Umbridge with Hermione is operating under the assumption that Ron told her - and he would be right. Trio dynamics <3

Harry refuses to "trouble" Dumbledore because he feels abandoned by him, so he thinks he would write to Sirius instead: his safe space. <3

Hermione inviting him to knit hats with her. She is so happy that she can make all sorts of patterns now.

"She's nearly as nice as your mum": the way Harry understands this about Sirius, and the way Sirius also immediately understands what Harry is saying about Umbridge enough to come to the fire later. <3 also "Please write back quickly":(

I really, really love how Harry and Cho is written right down to the time we get to scenes with second hand embarrassment. Harry's crush on her is so endearing, and I like that he is comforted that Cho did not hate him for being alive when Cedric is dead (it's a casual throwaway line to Harry's own survivor's guilt)

"he got off on a mere technicality""many people I have spoken to remained convinced of his guilt" - the way Percy needs to double down and convince himself that he is on the right track.

"Nearly everyone in the wizarding world thought Sirius a dangerous murderer and a great Voldemort supporter, and he had to live with that knowledge for 14 years" the way this book emphasises how much Harry deeply understands Sirius. And also, now Sirius isnt cleared before his death hits hard.

Sirius' association of Hermione's worry for him as her sounding like Molly shows that he understands that Molly comes from a place of concern too. Also best evidence of their dynamic is not as prickly as it is made out to be.

Love the implication that Remus is just cussing Umbridge out in presence of Sirius. The comfort Remus feels speaks volumes.

"the world isnt split into good people and Death Eaters": an important quote, and given where Sirius comes from, a good insight into how he thinks.

Hermione looked upset when Sirius makes a joke about Kreacher, and this is because Sirius was the only adult to truly back her about Winky. Sirius knows she is right, just like he knows Dumbledore is right, Hermione invoking Dumbledore's name (like Molly did in the beginning) to get him to listen - he interrupts and changes the subject, because of how bitter he feels with regard to Dumbledore (just like Harry) + how isolated he is in a childhood home.

Sirius has personal bitter feelings about Dumbledore, but his eyes are clear with regard to the Order and what Dumbledore wants there: he warns the trio to not draw attention to the fact that Hagrid isnt there.

@artemisiablack masculinity meta covered 'less like your dad' moment in depth. My addition is - I am interested in Harry's complete understanding of this - not once does he become mad at this. Since he spends the entire book lashing out, isolated, disbelieved, he has a unique understanding of Sirius' position and is unusually forgiving of him. Remus tries the "what your father would have done/ wanted" route in DH, and Harry has far less understanding of it there because he is projecting himself onto Teddy's position.

Chapter 15, 16

I love the newspaper article about Hogwarts High Inquisitor. It is quite clearly a govt puff piece with support of a quote of a corrupt parent, Lucius Malfoy. The only dissent in the article comes at the end by Griselda Marchbanks and Tiberius Odgen, and Marchbank's quote of critique is something the prophet tries to diminish by having an article on her links with "subversive goblin groups" on page 17.

Lmao at Hermione looking sideways to see Harry's grade on his moonstone essay and when she gets neither Harry nor Ron's essay grades, she tries to engage them in a conversation about OWL grades. Until finally, Ron cracks and says, "If you want to know what grades we got, ask" and she is all,"I dont- I didnt mean - Well if you want to tell me". Such a poor liar LOL.

Ok I adore this detail of Fred and George naming the grades for them, and Ron raises his hand in mock celebration when they say "P is for poor" XD such a teenage boy thing.

Hermione retreated last time and came back with a new strategy. She came back to Umbridge's class reading the whole book. XD Umbridge tries to whisper to her, but Hermione speaks in clear, carrying voice so the rest of the class can overhear. Hermione rattles her enough that Umbridge forgets to whisper and then docks off points when she realises that Hermione outmaneuvered her. And then, Harry gets involved, to Hermione's distress.

"Yeah, Quirrel was a great teacher. There was a minor drawback of Lord Voldemort sticking out the back of his head" LOL

"Dean Thomas, if you do that to the mouse again, I shall put you in detention": Dean whatttt

Harry loses his temper with Umbridge in Care of magical Creatures again, and both Ron and Hermione groan. Poor kids. This is a hard year for them.

Harry comes back with a very severe bleeding hand and he is relieved that Hermione is being sympathetic instead of critical (like she was at breakfast when McGonagall took points off).

"Harry saw with an ominous feeling that her face was alight with fervour SPEW usually inspired in her" this is so endearing.

I love the tiny shade of coolness in Hermione when she mentions that Harry beat her in DADA when they had a competent teacher. It bothers her gifted child-ness a bit, but she is okay because it was done in a fair setting.

How much do you want to bet Ron and Hermione discussed the idea of Harry being a teacher and kind of laid a conversation trap.

also, Harry having his survivor guilt induced rant about how much it could have just been him who died instead of Cedric: it reminds me of the conversation in Deathly Hallows where Harry tells Ron: "Stuff like that always sounds cooler than it really was. I've been trying to tell you that for years."

Hermione says Voldemort for the first time, and that calms Harry down. It tells him that she is taking what he said seriously.

love that Hermione waited two whole weeks to broach the topic with Harry again. And also introduced the idea of this being an idea for a larger group of people. She believes there is a larger group of people who would be interested in what Harry has to say and that it isn't fair to deprive of them of a chance to learn - and it feels like either she has been in conversation with these people and has been gauging the mood.

and she names Ron as part of her initial idea, and Ron looks at her all alarmed . here is the confirmation that the conversation they had was rehearsed. Ron joins the conversation and backs Hermione once he is sure Harry is receptive to the idea.

the barman looked "tall and thin" and "vaguely familiar" to Harry. Aberforth :D

the man in dirty grey bandages is the one who informs Umbridge about the meeting: he is referenced earlier in the book as the dude who blows up toilets XD

"A couple of people?" but this is a good demonstration of scale of Hermione's ideas and also her awareness that this would be something Umbridge would disprove of.

first meeting of Fred and Aberforth. Later in DH, he will talk of him with familiarity: "Aberforth is getting ratty.."

love that Hermione's initial go to was to use Harry's reputation to give her idea credibility and Harry disproves that line of speech with a ":sharp look" but her voice grows bolder and has more conviction when she talks about what Umbridge teaches them is rubbish. It's a nice moment of Hermione taking on a leadership role.

Zacharias Smith's interruption rattles the trio, and both Ron and Hermione try to redirect the conversation away from Harry. But Harry intervenes in this case.

While Hermione gets nervous again, Susan Bones interrupts and bolsters the conversation in Harry's favour. ("is it true you can produce a Patronus?") also, love the detail that Molly asked Ron not to spread it around XD

also twins leap to Harry's defense when Zacharias is rude again. XD i really love that the twins are so protective about him.

Ginny intervening in Hermione and Luna's spat with a "hem hem". Love that Weasley family has a set of people who can imitate people very well. Ron does it in DH too - he imitates Pettigrew XD

the cute detail of Cho fastening her catch in hopes of staying back, but Marietta was being too impatient, so she had to leave. Such a teenage move.

ok, I know OOTP is a bit of transient phase for Romione: but I love the body language detail of Hermione turning around and trodding on Ron's feet in a shop. It speaks to how close they are standing - and it feels like a test of boundaries (we see this later with Ron gifting Hermione perfume).

OOTP - Chapter 17, 18

the beech tree the trio sits near the lake is a regular, they sit here again post-Grawp chapters (and it is the same tree Marauders are sitting under in SWM chapter).

love that Ron thinks Hermione projects her virtues onto everyone else (which she does in some ways!), but Hermione clarifies that no one can tell Umbridge because she jinxed the parchment. Ruthless lol.

Harry is so worried about Hedwig that he nearly forgets that she had a letter for him:( also the tenderness in the Harry-Hedwig here: and how annoyed she is with him for letting Grubby-Plank take her, and how that makes Harry feel.

Snape's reaction to Umbridge when she mentions DADA post, obviously sore subject for him, because he believes Dumbledore would not hand him that position out of lack of trust. In HBP, he mentions that he believes Dumbledore believes it will cause a relapse in his old ways - but in HBP, the year Dumbledore gives Snape the task to kill him, he is effectively also handing over his complete trust by giving him that post. (ofc, the job is jinxed, so there are reasons why Dumbledore didnt do it before- but I am looking at this in terms of an emotional dynamic between the two. It also adds an interesting layer to Dumbledore, someone who would refuse all sorts of temptation due to his own youth and how he projects those fears onto Snape)

Crookshanks coming close to the fire to put his face close to Sirius <3 Hermione has to pull him back to stop him from singeing his whiskers.

Hermione takes Sirius' advice about Three Broomsticks being a place that would be harder to overhear- her meeting with Rita and Luna later in the story takes place in Three broomsticks. Despite her reservations about Sirius' judgement at this point in the story, it's an interesting look into how her mind works.

What is the Mundungus-Aberforth backstory? He was apparently banned from Hog's Head 20 years ago. Is it the same tight spot Dumbledore bailed him out of?

Molly's perceptiveness about Harry's relationship with Sirius comes into play in her message that she asks Sirius to pass on. In the beginning of the book, she challenges Sirius' guardianship ("who else has he got?"), and here she has retreated to "though she accepts she has no authority over either of them and begs them..".

Love that Sirius tells Ron to tell Molly that he has passed it all on, "because I don't think she trusts me to." Sirius wants her approval.

Ofc Hermione suspecting this to be the case is one more reason the book is Hermione vs Umbridge. I also think, and this chapter demonstrates, with Hermione being the one with DA plan, creating failsafes, asking to think up a name, she functions as the leader-behind-the scenes.

Also Hedwig sitting on Dobby's topmost bobble is the cutest image.

Hermione bringing up the fact that Dobby's plans aren't always safe - with regard to room of requirement. I wonder if she was doubling back on the DA after the initial Sirius enthusiasm, and the enormity of what they are doing scared her for a moment. Or it was a need to double check.

ooh, Ginny had come in with Dean and other Gryffindors. Given that Ginny dates Dean in the next book, it is a significant point to her social circle.

"That's a majority - motion passed": Hermione XD

Harry being so cute that he decides not to point out that Neville's first attempt at Disarming when Harry is facing away from him does not actually count XD

Lmao @ twins going after Zacharias Smith. They are clearly very annoyed at him making jibes at Harry (as they displayed last time at Hog's Head).

Ok, Dean's enthusiasm is really <3 I forget that Dean's respect for Harry is what drives Dean's moment in DH, where he puts weight behind Harry being the Chosen one in the conversation. This, combined with how excited Neville was about disarming Harry, shows how the Gryffindor boys view him.

Chapter 19, 20

Queen Parvati has produced such a good reductor curse that she reduces an entire table full of sneakscopes to dust.

Hermione "trying to look modest" when Terry Boot is all admiration that she can do a NEWT level charm. LOL.

Loved the conversation between Harry and Hermione: he tells her it reminds him of the Dark mark, and she admits that is where she got the idea from. It is something she got out of Harry's retelling of the most traumatic night of his life, and I like that she stores details like this and treats information as information.

"Hey Potty I hear Warrington's sworn to knock you off your broom on Saturday" "Warrington's aim is so pathetic I'd be more worried if he was aiming for the person next to me": XD

Hermione kisses Ron on the cheek when he looks lost and miserable, and it is like the kiss brings him back to himself <3 he touches the spot slightly. (also she has to stand on tiptoe to do it. Ron is tall)

Angelina does not wince when Montague tries to crush her fingers. Go Angelina!

Lee trying to drown out the words of the terrible "Weasley is our King" song by shouting his commentary. Lee Jordan is King!

Draco actually wrote the lyrics for Weasley is our king, and Pansy was conducting it from the stands lol. Says a lot about the character dynamics here.

Harry holding George back, while the combined efforts of Angelina, Katie and Alicia are needed to stop Fred leaping on Malfoy XD and then of course Harry releases George when Draco insults his mum.

Hogwarts really doesn't care about verbal bullying. An entire song to wind up the Gryffindor Keeper? Okay. Muggle duelling after extended provocation? Oh good lord not.

Hagrid is back and so begins hints of my least favourite plotline: Grawp.

Chapter 20, 21, 22

Hermione wearing her own knobbly elf hats. So cute. I love how it is a little thing she takes pride in.

Ron being his caretaking self and really pressing about how Hagrid has been attacked. XD

Hagrid irritably calling them nosy and interfering and then his beard twitches and Harry grins. Harry bargains his Dementor story for Hagrid's tale.

Trolls on Polish border and a disagreement with vampire in Minsk? Gimme this bar tale!

love how much the everlasting fire imagery comes with Dumbledore: he offers the giants (via Hagrid) : everlasting fire. (there is Fawkes, and there is the inferno he uses against the Inferi)

Maxime being super impressive by both roughing it (Hagrid being all "she is such a well dressed woman but..") and also saving Hagrid from giants by being fast with her wand.

Okay, Hagrid going misty-eyed at memories of Maxime being fiery at the thought of attacking Death Eaters, and Harry allowing him 30 secs of reminiscences before clearing his throat, lol.

Hermione asking about Hagrid's mother and being scared of broaching the topic, and Ron covering for her<3

Thestrals first make an appearance through gnarled yew trees - to emphasise their connection with death. Nott, Harry and Neville are the only ones who can see them.

Neville being upset that his answer might have made things worse for hagrid, but truthfully, this entire segment is an exercise of Umbridge enjoying wielding her power.

Ron being greatly amused by Hermione's skiing holiday, and Harry being envious that Ron would go to Burrow until Ron tells him he is invited. And Harry feels guilty at the thought of Sirius being alone at Grimmauld Place for Christmas, and considers persuading Mrs Weasley to invite him. :(

Angelina sending Harry burning reproachful looks cos she had to recreate the Gryffindor team. XD Also, Ginny is on team as Seeker!

The tension building between Harry and Cho: how he resists the urge to walk past her several time after she beams at him, and how he hangs back hoping to get a Merry Christmas from her.

Cho is dealing with so many confused feelings in this scene: the what if about Cedric, and seeing Harry react heavily to his mention, she feels upset that she burdened him with her feelings, she says, "I know it must be horrible for you… me mentioning Cedric, when you saw him die. I suppose you want to forget about it?" and when Harry doesnt answer, she expresses her admiration and attraction.

the other half of him wanted to take it to the grave, Imao, Harry so dramatic.

"oh, are you that bad at kissing?" "dunno. maybe I am." "of course you arent." "how do you know?" LOL. The trio in this scene.

"emotional range of a teaspoon" - its a funny line, but it also conveys Hermione's feelings for Ron and how much she wants to disavow them at the moment, because he is "the most insensitive wart she had the misfortune to meet". XD The scene is also set around Hermione writing an essay to Krum.

Harry agreeing mindlessly to Ron's "he's a grouchy git, isn't he?" "bit grouchy, yeah." Also LOL at role reversal. Hermione was the one who said that Krum looks grumpy, and Ron was like, "who cares what he looks like" lol.

Harry wishing Sirius's head appears in the fire so he can ask for advice on girls XD

Harry's ridiculous dream before the nightmare conveys feelings of competition that he feels with regard to Cho's feelings for Cedric , and there is also a sense that he wants to give back to Dobby because he came to the room to set up Christmas baubles with Dobby's head.

Mrs Norris spots them on the way to Dumbledore's office (McGonagall shoos her), but the cat informs Filch, Filch informs Umbridge.

I love the implication here that Dumbledore is conducting a meeting with portraits (many of whom are in important wizarding institutions in the country, which means he gets information from everywhere). The discussion falls silent and portraits pretend to sleep as soon as there is a knock on the door.

"but in essence divided?" + the imagery of two serpents coiling and undulating in air. This is a reference to Voldemort's torn soul in Harry, but also the twin imagery between Harry and Voldemort is strong here.

also the comical whimsy of the portraits is there throughout the scene - them pretending to sleep but raising their eyelids enough to watch Harry, them yelling at Phineas to wake up, and finally, the witch with a wand that looked like a birch rod XD

love that Harry as a protector is embedded in Ginny's mind. She asks him directly what is going on, instead of the adults in the room. Harry reinforces this association by stepping directly in front of her in the climax chapters when Bellatrix threatens her.

ah the implication of Sirius being in his day clothes, and the whiff of a stale drink about him :(

Ron gives Harry a fleeting look(but does not challenge it) when Harry changes the story to as if he is watching the vision from sidelines, later on in the same chapter, he admits to seeing it through snake's eyes for Sirius and also admits to wanting to attack Dumbledore. Sirius gets the detail that Harry wanted to attack Dumbledore first.

Oh Sirius. :( It's such struggle for him to remain calm in a scene when Fred, understandably upset, hits at something below the belt. Sirius, who is a man of action, who ties his worth to doing hates being in this position. But once they sit down, he tries hard to be a host - giving them Butterbeer, suggesting they go to bed…

Ginny being curled like a cat and her eyes reflecting the firelight is such a sensual image.

"Harry and Sirius looked at each other often, intruders upon family grief… waiting… waiting". Again, the emphasis on how Harry views Sirius.

Sirius cooking for the Weasleys, Sirius saying "the more the merrier" and Molly beaming at him, and them cooking together <3

"well, he doesn't tell me anything any more" - not only does Harry confess the details of the vision, he also allows himself to tack on this resentful sentence of Dumbledore keeping him in the dark.

This is a bit of a moment for Sirius where he wants to assure Harry things are alright before admitting that the vision is worrying him - its one of the few moments in the series that Sirius is not entirely honest with Harry. So he goes to Dumbledore about this next to figure out wtf is going on - which is what arranges the Occlumency lessons.

LOL, the entrance to St. Mungos is a bit creepy, with dummy beckoning you closer with its jointed finger for entering.

Dilys (the headmistress) counting the Weasleys as though to report to Dumbledore who is visiting.

An old man with a hearing trumpet is here to see Broderick Bode.

Mrs Weasley panicking there is a werewolf in public ward, and Mr. Weasley assuring the man that Remus finds his condition easy to manage. Remus really never lets it show, unless he is bitching about Umbridge to Sirius. XD

Poor harry spends the entire chapter thinking that Weasleys had something "accusatory" in how they looked at him (a reflection of his own feelings of guilt), and he keeps being proven wrong: Molly hugs him and thanks him for saving Arthur's life, and Fred and George offer him extendable ears saying Harry has the right to listen in on their father. It makes the end of the chapter, where they are most likely worried about him and scared for him, all the more sad because Harry is going to think they are afraid of him

Chapter 23, 24

Harry's paranoia driving him to a point where he thinks he needs to go to privet Drive to keep other people safe.

Like Sirius, as angry as Harry gets at Dumbledore, he instantly obeys his instruction. And again like Sirius in his depressive episode, Harry also retreats to the room with Buckbeak, and refuses to eat.

hermione asking Harry not to tell Ron that skiing is not really her thing cos he kept laughing too much XD

Hermione and Ginny tag-teaming Harry out of his mood, leading to the "I forgot" "Lucky you" moment. And Ginny gives Harry the knowledge that gives him immediate comfort. Ron joins at the tail end of the conversation, where he senses Harry has started calming down. (He had previously looked down in response to Harry's angry glare)

Sirius singing "God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs" and his delight at having the house full, "especially at having Harry back":(

Sirius and Remus sending presents that shows both of their tacitly approving DA. Lovely shade to Remus' characterisation. Also how sweet of Tonks to send in a small model of the Firebolt.

Remus comforting Molly about Percy and the implication later that Sirius and Molly are cooking together again - Molly "sounding like she had a bad head cold" and Sirius bringing in turkey.

"The perfume is really unusual Ron" - Ron spotting that Hermione is indeed, a girl. What an awkwardly cute romantic-but-is-it gesture.

Kreacher's den - that is the boiler room where he sleeps - really makes me side-eye the stupid house elf plot that says Walburga and Regulus were "kind" to Kreacher. Sure Jan.

Christmas is the time where there is an uptick of patients who have come in cos of a family argument XD

Remus going to the forlon werewolf in the ward. :(

the Healer who ran after Ron through six portraits to offer remedy for spattergroit XD this will come in handy in Deathly Hallows.

Hermione sounding "slightly breathless" at the sight of Lockhart. Her crush remains XD

Neville saving the wrapper he got from his mum.

Harry being suspicious of Kreacher's behavior is why he is the lead detective of a mystery novel character. XD

Sirius is that character whose presence is just so powerful that his mood infects everyone: whether he is cheerful during the beginning of the holiday, or when he is depressed near the end of the holiday ("oozing under doorways like noxious gas"). Intense boy.

Harry egging on his castle which was tussling with Ron's pawn, lmaoo. "Squash him, squash him, he is only a pawn you idiot." I will say that the "Lucky you" scene and further on put Ginny among the trio. She is sitting with Hermione and Crookshanks, watching Harry and Ron play chess.

Snape and Sirius scene: this is an incredibly fun scene with two characters who are quite a match for each other's verbal sparring, and it also lays out their priorities. Sirius' priority is Harry, and he undercuts the power Snape is trying to establish in the scene by claiming ownership of both the house ("it's my house, you see") and Harry (I'm his godfather"). Snape's priority is Dumbledore's orders + the Order (and he rubs the fact that he is doing an important role to hit undercut Sirius' power in return).

The history between these two also muddies the scene with other complicated things. The moment Sirius stands up to emphasise that Harry shouldnt be bullied, Snape's, ever the hypervigilant against his former bullies, goes to his wand in his pocket. (we see a version of this in SWM, where James calls to him, and "Snape reacted as though he was expecting an attack").

They both throw emasculating insults at each other: Snape goads him about hiding in his mother's house, while Sirius calls him Lucius' lapdog. So essentially, what these two men are saying in the scene is - Sirius: "Stop tormenting Harry" and Snape is saying (especially with the jab about how Lucius knew it was Sirius): "You are putting the Order at risk". Poor Harry stuck at forcing these two grown men apart, standing immobile between them, hand outstretched. XD

Sirius forcing himself to be cheerful around people, and Harry noticing his face fell back into a brooding expression when the focus isnt on him:(

Ugh, Harry just not wanting to leave Sirius behind and the way his chest is constricting at thought of parting. And Sirius giving him a way to contact him, and then giving him a one armed hug. These two loved each other so much:(

The adults fell silent when Harry came in for breakfast, and Tonks was nervous about staying too long in the square (she even threatens Stan for simply saying Harry's name loudly). I wonder what is happening here? Are they being watched/followed? I would have loved to know more behind the scenes Order stuff. Interesting how Tonks takes the lead in this two man job, and how she splits them up, tips Stan to move them along etc etc. More glimpses of her Auror! self.

Harry saying Voldemort's name unnerves Snape, and he almost rubs the arm where his mark is. It shows that Snape is indeed, scared of Voldemort. (also Harry asking the right questions - "why can I see from snake's mind if its Voldemort's thought I am sharing?" smart cookie. It's because Nagini is a Horcrux.)

"well for the first attempt that was not as poor as it could have been" is Snape almost unwillingly complimenting Harry lol, and then he offers feedback in his typical bad teacher way: "remain focused, you wasted too much time and energy shouting. You are handing me memories you fear"

After Harry sees his mother and father in mirror, and Cedric's death once again: Snape looks "paler than usual, and angrier". I dont think he expected to encounter Lily again.

"fools who wear their heart proudly on their sleeves, who cannot control their emotions, who wallow in sad memories and allow themselves to be provoked easily - weak people in other words - stand no chance against his powers". Snape is talking about himself, especially teenage Snape who joined the Death Eaters. We see a glimpse of teenage Snape later on, lying on grass and throwing swear words at James even without his wand, throwing a slur at his best friend because he is humiliated - "easily provoked, who cannot control his emotions". This is such an interesting chapter because Snape is talking about himself and there is recognition of who Harry is, away from his projection of "James' son". Snape's lip curl when asking about Ripper the dog, and Harry thinks Snape is mocking him (but interestingly, he never uses it to mock Harry - now or in the future, because it disturbs his James projection on him), but these words show that Snape is recognising himself in him. He hates it and will disassociate from the realisation until near the end of the series. Which gives weight to the "look at me" moment. He is asking Harry to really see him, and asking to be seen in return ("look at me")

Harry asking whats in the department of mysteries, unnerving Snape. Because it holds the prophecy Snape had overheard, but it also tells Snape that this is something that is haunting Harry for months (as he will later tell Dumbledore). Harry and Snape stepping on emotional landmines around each other - it makes for very interesting scenes, but good god, this is such a bad idea.

Hermione looking at Fred and george's Invisibility Hats and puzzling out how they work, and compliments how cleverly they used the charm.

Hermione asking Ron to check up on Harry since he looked ill all evening. <3 these two co-parents.