#bad dursleys

[selfish-thunder]

I’ve got another idea.

Okay, so I love those fics that have Harry trying to use his Parselmouth on either (or both) the basilisk and the dragon in the first task of the Triwizard Tournament, with varying degrees of success. And a lot of the time, talking to the dragon kinda works, right? Like, it’s not direct communication, more like two people who are just above beginner’s level in learning the other’s language, and both languages are derivative of another one, so even if they don’t fully understand they can kinda piece together what the other is saying?

So, let’s say it’s like that. And of course, dragons aren’t born like squishy humans who take forever to learn to even roll over; they immediately start walking, flapping their wings, and hiccupping sparks, right?

AU

FIRST YEAR Harry, of course, doesn’t realize yet that he’s a Parselmouth–he doesn’t even know what Parseltongue is and just assumed being able to talk to that snake in the zoo was just a wizard thing.

So, they’re in Hagrid’s hut, Norbert(a) is born, and Harry hears something that sounds an awful lot like, “Food? Hungry? Momma?” or whatever a newborn dragon would try to communicate.

Harry tries to tell Hagrid he thinks the dragon is hungry, he might want to feed it, but the others are confused because it sounds to them like Harry is hiss-cooing or something to the dragon. (Hagrid thinks it’s adorable.) But anyway, however it comes about, it becomes obvious in the time between the dragon being born and Charlie’s friends coming to get them, that Harry can, in fact, understand the dragon and speak to it.

It’s not perfect, but he’s able to communicate to the dragon not to set something on fire or that they need to try to eat the rats as they’re being weaned off the whiskey/blood mix thing. No one thinks it’s a perk of Parseltongue because hello, he’s talking to a dragon, and isn’t this incredible? It must be some kind of ancient inheritance thing.

So, when they write to Charlie, they naturally have to ask him if he’s ever heard anything like that, so instead of just coming to collect the dragon, Charlie comes, too, and they witness this incredible thing. (So does Draco, in the shadows, of course.)

Charlie is super excited and reaches out to every expert he can, and he convinces McG to let him bring Harry out to a dragon range to be evaluated, and they try to keep this new, rare ability under wraps, but some of the assessors blab, and Draco wrote to complain to his father who goes on his own investigation, etc. At any rate, it becomes A Thing.

While Dumbledore steps in to ensure Harry goes back to the Dursleys, the obsessed dragon crowd refuse to be refused outright and secures Harry a camp-like thing at a dragon resort (because they think it’s clearly Harry’s destiny to become, like, the Ultimate Dragon Trainer, and Harry thinks dragons are cool and likes the sound of getting away from the Dursleys for a few weeks).

Their letters don’t get through that summer, though, and Charlie hears from his brothers that they haven’t heard from Harry either, so it’s Charlie who goes to check on him and finds him locked up with bars on his windows. Unlike Ron, Fred, and Geroge, Charlie is a grown-ass adult with his own connections now, which go beyond Dumbledore’ reach because the wealthy dragon resort that’s so interested in Harry is in a goddamn different country with a whole different magical government, and also, ain’t nobody wants to get on the bad side of a self-sufficient DRAGON RESORT that has a ton of dragons that aren’t just roaming their countryside thanks to them.

So, a new arrangement is made. Harry will return to the Dursleys, under strict Romania supervision (I imagine it's some seasoned, scary-looking dragon tamer who demands to stay in the house with them, taking over the guest room, like… ahhhh chef’s kiss) just long enough to satisfy the protection spell, but for the rest of the summer, Harry stays at the resort. Charlie becomes his unofficial guardian, kinda, and: enter, a bunch of OC dragon tamers who are awesome and very protective of their little dragon-speaker.

Second year goes a little differently. First there’s Draco, who hates Harry more than ever over this, but while he knows he’ll never get a dragon-in with the Weasleys, there’s still a slight chance with Harry (and goddamnit, dragons are his NAME’S SAKE, if anyone deserves free access to any dragon they want, it’s HIM), so he tries to become less of a bother. Harry’s still outed talking a different language during duel club, and some people are still suspicious, but most people know about his dragon-ability and wrongly assume the opposite of what it actually is (ie, he can kinda talk to snakes because he can talk to dragons), and Harry only tells Ron and Hermione that the snake was actually a lot easier to understand.

Go to next summer, when his new dragon-tamer-family learn about the events of second year, they firstly, throw a fit because they should have been informed their charge was in danger, and secondly, go and collect the basilisk because like hell are they going to let something like that just rot somewhere. So, figuring out how to destroy Horcruxes later becomes, like, SUPER easy and accessible.

Charlie’s the one who tells Harry about Sirius Black when he escapes, and he straight up tells Harry everything, about Black being his godfather and betraying his parents, all of it, so Harry goes into third year fully informed. He, of course, does not see the grim that summer. But he doesn't spent the year an emotional wreck, just getting a little bit of the info at a time, do with that as you will.

Harry arrives to school with a signed permission slip for Hogsmeade, and even though McGonagall still wants to refuse him because of Black, members of his dragon-tamer family just happen to be in the area for that year for ‘business’ or whatever (aka, protect Harry because ain't nobody said shit to them last year) and escort him to Hogsmeade anyway.

(“With all due respect, Professor, I once had a Peruvian Vipertooth grab my leg and toss me over a hill, and I still got back up and got the collar on her. You think Black scares me?”)

Most of their patronuses are dragons, except for one tamer whose patronus is a chipmunk, and funnily enough, it’s the most powerful patronus of all of them.

Draco doesn’t insult Buckbeak because he wants to prove to the tamers and probably Potter that he can, in fact, handle himself with larger magical creatures. He becomes Hagrid's best, most dedicated student.

I mean, COME ON,  imagine how the whole series can go differently.

Maybe the tamers get hilariously invested in the Scabbers/Crookshanks feud. It's the tamers, maybe, that figure out Scabbers fucking Pettigrew.

Different dragons have to be imported for the first task because Romania would be too biased - or they change the first task altogether because Harry's a known dragon-speaker.

They would DESTROY Umbridge.

Death Eaters vs Dragon Tamers. Dragon Tamers in the Order. Sirius lives because a Tamer was there in the Department of Mysteries to save him. Sirius not going out of his mind being stuck at Grimmauld because he can go to the resort where no one outside the Order recognizes him/cares.

Draco not becoming a Death Eater because he wants to become a Dragon Tamer.

DRAGONS AT THE BATTLE OF HOGWARTS. USING THE GRINGOTTS DRAGON INSTEAD OF GRIPHOOK TO BREAK INTO (AND OUT OF) GRINGOTTS.

THE POSSIBILITIES

[oflights]

there's no way quidditch is actually fun imo. like i know the seeker thing and how illogical it is has been talked to death but the whole overall concept is so stupid. imagine you're a world class chaser and you're amazing and everything you do is invalidated (or validated) by the performance of one specific player who has nothing else to do with the rest of the players. you have good stats but your win record means absolutely nothing.

there's little strategy; a good defense depends entirely the keeper, which is another way all the positions are just completely disconnected from each other. they could all be playing different sports and nothing would make a difference. beaters are there for Violence ("ethically mean-spirited"). god there are so many bludger moments in fic (and in the books too tbh) that are so dramatic and injurious and it's literally just the beaters playing their stupid position the way they're meant to lol.

i know the reasonings behind this are like: jkr fundamentally doesn't understand sports in even basic ways; the seeker position has to be for The Most Special Guy and that has to be harry always because he wouldn't be Special Enough if the entire game didn't ride on his shoulders; jkr is a bad writer. very annoying that this huge insidious piece of worldbuilding is so bad!!!

[wafflinglumos]

Lily and Petunia have such an interesting and complex relationship and there aren’t enough fics that delve into that.

From what we know from canon, the two were relatively close before Lily’s magic was discovered. We can assume that Petunia’s resentment ramped up when Snape and Lily started to become friends, which was partially because she just didn’t like him and thought he was a weird but if you look at it from a child’s perspective it paints it in a different light, children are easily possessive of things and people, siblings especially, sisters especially.

Her resentment was furthered with their parents treatment of the two. Petunia was the eldest sister, between the two she was the less remarkable, from what we know and can assume from canon, Lily was the golden child, when she received her Hogwarts letter and their parents reacted positively and from what we’re told in the books, ecstatically even, which furthered her resentment even more when she even wrote to Dumbledore asking if she could go to Hogwarts too, but he had told her, though kindly, that because she was a muggle she could not.

Petunia lashed out the only way she knew how to, with resentment and envy, which makes sense really.

If Petunia was already envious of her sister, and their parents put Lily on an even higher pedestal after they found out she was a witch, adding Dumbledore’s words about Petunia not be able to go because she was a “muggle”, then it’d make sense that Petunia would resent Lily, to make her a “freak” in her eyes.

Petunia’s jealousy and resentment came from many things with Lily’s odd abilities, with Lily spending time with Snape, with Lily discovering she was a witch and their parents praising her for that, with Lily’s acceptance into Hogwarts and Petunia’s rejection from it, with pureblood James Potter.

That’s not to say that Lily is at fault or that she didn’t care, we KNOW Lily loved her sister. We can safely assume that she wrote to Petunia throughout Hogwarts, her letters probably getting more scarce as they grew and Petunia had stopped responding, but Lily still sent Petunia a letter when she gave birth to Harry, she still felt that her sister was important enough to her to send a letter announcing Harry’s arrival.

Petunia’s resentment even caused her to marry Vernon because he was everything that Lily was not. He was a boring regular man with a boring regular life. (Which we learn from this part in the books below)

“Mrs Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be.”

However, even with all that envy and resentment, Lily was still her sister, we see this when Vernon and Marge are laughing about Lily being a bitch and Petunia isn’t, we see this when Petunia tells Harry that he didn’t just lose a mother that night but she lost a sister(it’s in the movies explicitly so not book canon but it’s still a thing to note)

Petunia treated Harry the way she did because he was attached to the wizarding world and her sister, yeah Harry was a wizard but he was also the spitting image of James, Petunia must have resented him that much more because Harry was the embodiment of the two things that took away her sister, magic and James Potter. More over, Voldemort killed Lily to get to Harry, Lily died for Harry, it’s not an insane thing to think that that added even more to Petunia’s disdain.

Harry was the embodiment of everything that took Lily away from Petunia, magic, James Potter and the very reason her sister was dead. In Petunia’s mind at least.

To add Petunia treated Harry horrifically and no this isn’t an excuse for her inexcusable gross actions, but an unnecessary long look into the reasoning for it.

[cassiaratheslytherpuff]

No Other Sadness in the World Would Do

For Prongsfoot week day 7 - write anything for this ship

Warnings: MCD, canon compliant, suicidal thoughts, unrequited love On October 31st 1981, Voldemort attacked the Potters. This is what happened after.

Sirius knew, somewhere deep down, what he would find when he pulled up to James and Lily's house. He had felt it, like a knife to the chest – half his heart shrinking in on itself in terror, then going still. Quiet, far too quiet. Still, seeing large parts of the wall on the south side of the second floor missing hit him hard. Harry's bedroom. Neither James nor Lily would have allowed anyone into Harry’s room if they were still alive and breathing. And yet – he had to know for sure. The hope burned in his chest like acid because it was false. He knew it was false, and yet… it was James. Sirius didn’t think the world would keep existing if James no longer did. So maybe – somehow, he’d be alright.

The front door was ajar, and Sirius pushed it open with his foot. He didn't make it more than a step inside before he fell to his knees. James. He looked like himself, even in death. His glasses were smudged but unbroken, his brown eyes open wide and staring into nothing. His skin was pale, his mouth slightly open – as if he'd been halfway through a word when Voldemort killed him.

"No," Sirius choked out. His voice was raw, reflecting a brokenness he knew would never be repaired. He shook his head in mute denial. James couldn’t be – it wasn’t possible. James was so alive. He should never be this still. It was wrong.

Read the rest on A03 OR

Sirius gasped for air. Every cell in his body was protesting being alive in a world where James wasn't. Sirius wouldn't do it, couldn't do it. Without James he was half a person. Less than half a person, he wasn't sure he was anything at all. He didn't think he wanted to be.

Slowly, carefully, Sirius reached out a trembling hand to remove James’s glasses. He placed his hand on James’s face, which felt colder than it should be, and gently closed his eyes for the last time.

Unable to resist, Sirius placed a soft kiss on James’s slightly parted lips. His tears dripped off his nose and onto James’s cheek, and he wiped it carefully off.

"I love you," Sirius said. Minutes too late for James to hear, years too late for it to matter.

He moved James’s arms from the position that would have been uncomfortable, had he been alive, and realised in the process that James hadn't even paused to get his wand. Had just thrown himself in-between Voldemort and the people he loved most without a second thought.

A strange peace came over Sirius then, he knew what he had to do. He would find Peter, kill him, and then follow James to wherever it was he had gone. There was nothing for him in the world if there was no James. He knew it wasn't what James wanted, but James didn't understand. James didn't see how he was the centre of Sirius’s universe, and that without him Sirius was untethered. He couldn't do anything but follow.

A whimper from upstairs made Sirius jump. The soft sound quickly turned into a loud, soul-crushing scream. Harry! Harry was alive. Sirius scrambled to his feet at took the stairs three at a time, crashing into the doorframe and nearly tripping over Lily's body in his rush to get to the crib. And there was Harry. His face was covered in blood and tears as he screamed to his mum, clearly not understanding why she wasn't responding.

Harry. The gravitational force that had tied Sirius to James shifted. How could he follow James when Harry was still here? Harry needed him. He picked Harry out of his crib, feeling his world shift and settle on a singular goal; protect Harry.

The relief of finding Harry alive broke through the numbness Sirius had surrounded himself with the second he looked into James’s unseeing eyes – and for a moment he couldn’t do anything more than hold Harry tight to his chest and sob into his hair. Sirius felt lost. He had to figure out what to do. It wouldn’t be long until someone discovered what had happened. And as far as Dumbledore and Remus knew, Sirius was the secret-keeper. As far as they knew, Sirius had been the one to betray James. In a way he had. Suggesting they change to Peter had been – it was unforgivable. But Sirius couldn’t plan. Couldn’t think. Not when all he could see was James, eyes staring into nothing. Lily, crumpled on the floor.

Sirius tightened his grip on Harry and walked downstairs. He cleaned the cut on Harry’s forehead and healed it to the best of his ability. It would scar, but if Sirius’s suspicions were right, it was from a killing-curse – a scar was getting off easy. Harry fussed and cried for his mum and dad, and Sirius’s heart crumbled more with each broken sob from the boy. He held Harry in his arms and walked the length of the living room again and again, trying to soothe him. When Harry fell into a fitful sleep, Sirius didn’t know how to stop his pacing. If he stopped; he might fall apart. James was gone. Gone. He couldn’t believe it, couldn’t wrap his mind around the fact. Surely, James would open the door to the living room at any moment – demanding his son back and laughing about the terrible prank he’d pulled.

As much as Sirius couldn’t believe it, he still felt it – the aching absence. The world had gone dark the second James drew his last breath, and Sirius didn’t think it would ever regain its colour. He hated that Harry had to grow up like this, in a world of dulled colours and muffled laughter. That he would never again know his vibrant and lovely father. The man Sirius loved more than anything.

Time moved in a strange rhythm, and Harry woke as the sun started shining through the windows. Sirius hadn’t put him down, hadn’t slept – but he had, at some point during the night, sat down in the chair James always favoured. It still smelled of him, and Sirius wanted to sink into the fabric and remain there.

Harry made a noise of complaint and Sirius forced himself to look down at the child, tried to force a smile and failed miserably.

“Right,” Sirius said, surprised at the roughness of his voice. “Food.”

Sirius was feeding Harry the last spoonful of porridge when Hagrid arrived. Sirius tensed, but the man smiled through his tears upon seeing him – and Sirius knew nobody had told him who the secret-keeper was supposed to be.

“Oh, good,” Hagrid said. “He’s alright.”

Sirius nodded. He should have left when he had the chance. Should have taken Harry and run as far as they could.

Sirius nodded. Neither of them was alright, but Harry was alive.

Hagrid shook his head, fat tears dripping down his cheeks. “I can’t believe it. James and Lily…”

Sirius gritted his teeth. He couldn’t hear it. “Don’t,” he managed.

Hagrid seemed to get it, nodded.

“Dumbledore sent me to get him,” he said, nodding at the child in Sirius’s arms.

Sirius shook his head. “No.”

Hagrid blinked, clearly surprised that anyone would argue with the old Headmaster.

Sirius shook his head again. “I’m his godfather. He’s staying with me.”

“He needs to be kept safe, Dumbledore said,” Hagrid explained.

Sirius sighed. Safe from him, most likely. Dumbledore thought he’d sold out James – Remus would think so too. Sirius wasn’t sure who else thought he was the secret-keeper, but they’d spread the rumour. It would be enough. People would be coming for him, in not too long. Could he really take Harry on the run with him? Was that any kind of life?

“’s in his blood or summat,” Hagrid said. “Lily’s blood will keep him safe – he’ll be goin’ to his aunt an’ uncle to be kept safe.”

Lily’s blood – had she… she must have – how else would Harry had survived the killing curse? It was powerful magic. Lily had never spoken much of her sister, though Sirius knew they lost touch as children. Maybe – would it be better? Harry could grow up with his aunt and uncle, could live in a stable home with Lily’s protection keeping him safe. Or he could – what? Go on the run with Sirius? What kind of life was that?

Hagrid seemed to see he was hesitating. He placed a hand on Sirius’s shoulder, offering him a sad smile. “I know yeh love him,” he said. “But Dumbledore knows what’s best. Let me take him to safety.”

Sirius found himself nodding, even as everything in him screamed no. No, Harry was his. James and Lily had chosen him. But hey hadn’t known what they were signing up for, hadn’t understood how little would remain of Sirius with James gone. Who was he to raise a child? He would damage the poor kid beyond repair. He had no idea where to even start.

“Fine,” Sirius said – pulling the cloak of numbness over himself again. This was for the best. Harry would be safe – happy. And Sirius could follow James. Hopefully, James would forgive him.

Hagrid held out his arms, and Sirius eyed the pink umbrella sceptically. “How are you getting him there?”

“Well, I Apparated here,” Hagrid admitted. “Thought I could jus–,”

“No,” Sirius said, wincing at the idea of little Harry splinched by a botched Apparition with a broken wand. “My bike is outside. You can have it.”

Hagrid opened his eyes wide. “But – you love that bike.”

Sirius nodded. He’d loved a lot of things about the bike, mostly though, he’d loved sharing it with James. “I don’t have much need for it anymore. Take it – get Harry where he’s going safely.”

On the morning of November 2nd Harry was woken by Petunia Dursley's scream. Her shrill voice would wake him every day for the next ten years. After reading the letter she picked up the basket and deposited it in the cupboard underneath the stairs – this was the last time anyone ever picked him up, until Hagrid carried him from the woods 16 years later.

In the evening of November 2nd, Sirius found Peter. Mad with rage and grief he tried to duel the man he had called a friend, but the coward set off an explosion instead of facing what he had done. Sirius turned his wand on himself, but Aurors disarmed him before he could speak. They doused him with Veritaserum in lieu of a trial, and asked if he was responsible for the death of James and Lily Potter. The Veritaserum forced the only truth Sirius knew from his lips: yes, he was.

On the third of November – his birthday – Sirius screamed himself into an exhausted sleep. He would so every night for the next 12 years. The dementors never robbed him of the love he felt for James because nothing they could conjure hurt as much as loving James when he was gone.

Twelve years later, Sirius learned Harry hadn’t been better off. Learned he hadn’t been safe or happy with his aunt and uncle. He tried everything he could to make up for it, tried to look at Harry and see Harry, not James. But they were so alike, and his mind so broken – it didn’t always work.

In the end, fourteen years after James and Lily left them, after Sirius left Harry. Sirius fell through the Veil – and he was surprised. Not just by the fact he would die, but by the fear he felt at the idea. He’d felt James’s absence like a pulsating wound for years, but he would be leaving Harry again. Harry, who was his world. In the end, Sirius was gone before he could hear Harry’s broken screams – the pleading for Sirius to get up – to come back.

[soraya-snape]

Do I feel bad for Harry because of how he was raised by the Dursleys?: Yes.

Do I still think it was better than him being raised by his own parents (especially James)?: Also, yes.

If Harry was raised by his parents, he most certainly would have turned out like James, Draco and Dudley. A spoiled, rich bully who thinks he is better than everyone else. 

[hp-fanfic-archive]

The Repercussions of a Letter by lemonchase Pairing: Gen, Harry & The Dursleys Rating: G Word Count: 1k “Well?” Dudley asks, his voice higher than usual. “Why didn’t you tell me I’m a wizard?” Harry bites his lips, wishing he could snap at Dudley without making everything worse. Is he too dense to read the room? Uncle Vernon clears his throat. “You aren’t a… w-wizard, Dudders. They aren’t real. This is just a prank letter.” “But who-” “Whoever sent this has a bad sense of humor, and that’s it.” The chair squeaks as uncle Vernon stands up. Aunt Petunia follows his example, only that she does it utterly noiselessly, the letter pressed to her chest. “Harry,” aunt Petunia says while she and uncle Vernon walk out of the kitchen and towards the stairs. “Take a few more slices of toast, will you? You look hungry.” Harry stares after his aunt and uncle, wondering if he is hallucinating.

[xmultifandomsx]

a haunted house

Somewhere along Privet Drive there is a house. It appears to be a very normal house. The bushes are always trimmed neatly and there's a lovely begonia bush out back. The stone path is well worn and the shutters are painted a lovely shade of brown.

The insides also appear to be very normal. The kitchen is well-loved down to the cracked coffee mug that collects dust in the cabinet. The floor is scratched around the table from the chairs scraping. There are three bedrooms each one with a bed and dresser. The carpet is worn down in familiar paths and one of the steps on the staircase creaks.

At first glance, there is a house on privet drive no different than any other house. Indistinguishable from it's neighbors, the house sits unperturbed. Upon closer inspection though, one may start to notice it's oddities.

The begonia in the backyard blooms all year, even in the winter months, and the shrubs never seem to need tending. There are divets in the stone around one of the upstairs windows, as if something had been screwed in around it. The shutters even, at times, seem to droop giving the house a dreary expression.

Inside, there are three locks on the cupboard under the stairs. The cupboard itself houses a small cot, a collection of green army soldiers, and a long-dead torch, all covered in a thick layer of dust. One of the bedrooms upstairs is plainer than the rest, not as many posters hung up on the walls but the ones that are don't seem to come down. There are nails in the walls where pictures once hung.

It's just a house, Dudley thinks when he returns years later. He sits in that cupboard under the stairs with all its locks on the door and repeats this to himself. It's just a house and he was just a child. They both were.

[kait-bait8]

So there are a LOT of flaws with the theory that tries to attribute the Dursley’s behavior toward Harry to the piece of Voldemort’s soul in Harry. But I think one of the keys to disproving that is the specification that one must be “close” to the horcrux in order to be effected by it. Ginny is possessed by the diary because she confides in it. Ron is made disgustingly jealous because he allows those feelings to come up when he is wearing the locket. Others who interact with these objects may feel uneasy, but are never so negatively affected as those who bond with the horcrux. The one piece of credit anyone has ever given the Dursleys is that they never gave Harry the false impression that any of their behavior was out of love. Vernon hardly said Harry’s name if he could help it. The Dursleys did NOT bond with Harry and thus cannot excuse their behavior by blaming Harry (as I’m sure they would love to do).

[greenerteacups]

Ok. First of all, I am obsessed with Lionheart. You are amazing and I could sing your praises for hours. However, I have a question regarding Wolfstar. Your fic was actually the first time I came across that ship. (I know now it's really popular). However, I would love to hear more about your thoughts on Remus and Sirius. Whether it's canon or your interpretation of them. I always found Tonks and Remus to be a strange couple in the HP books. Was that your impression as well? How do you think a romantic relationship between the two characters changes them, if it does at all? Thanks!

Totally! Thanks for the ask!

I think Remus and Tonks getting together suffers from the same thing that a lot of canon relationships do, i.e., that JKR doesn't really know how to write romantic chemistry. There are very few times in the books where it feels like there's genuine sexual or romantic tension happening on the page. So that's layer 1.

Layer two is that Remus and Tonks aren't themselves on the page for most of Books 5-7, so their "love story," as such, is 90% exposition. The only scenes we get of them as a couple are Tonks scolding Remus for not dating her and Remus guiltily shooting her down. It also seems out of character for Remus, who is defined in many ways by his attachment to the past and who has been living out of Sirius's pockets for two years, to show little or no apparent grief at the death of his best friend of twenty years, not to mention one of the last people alive who loved James Potter. Harry grieves Sirius more than Lupin seems to, and Harry knew Sirius for about five minutes compared to Lupin. That's not to say that grief always looks the same — it's different, and I'm sure Lupin compartmentalized it for the war effort — but it should, in theory, stop you from jumping into a high-intensity relationship with your dead best friend's niece. (If you look at the timeline on Tonks and Lupin's relationship vis-a-vis Sirius's death, it is absolutely wild.)

The Wolfstar in Lionheart is subtle, but as overt as I thought was realistic for two men who hadn't seen each other in years and are also, by necessity, only seen by the reader in the presence of their thirteen-year-old godson. I wanted to capture the energy of "closeted on-again off-again lovers in the 70s and 80s before having a VERY messy breakup" (which, believe it or not, is a broader demographic than you'd think), both because I think it's a fun way to write them (the vibes! the possessiveness! the old-married-couple meets shy-first-relationship of it all!) and because it explains why Lupin is totally alone before Prisoner of Azkaban — in particular, why he never made an effort to contact Harry. It's hard enough to be a closeted man in Britain in the 1980s; throw in a case of lycanthropy and an insane amount of personal trauma, and what you've got on your hands is the kind of guy who'd go totally radio silent on everyone he knows for 13 straight years.

[beloved-child-of-the-house]

I am so so so picky about fic one time I closed a fic because someone said “muggle jeans” instead of just jeans okay they wear jeans in canon so how are muggle jeans different 🤨

[polarfog]

Fandom: Harry Potter

Prompt: Concussion for Bad Things Happen Bingo

Learning Difficulties - Chapter 1 - polarfog - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling [Archive of Our Own]

Harry Potter has significant after effects after he suffered a concussion from a car crash.

[aficionadoenthusiast]

this is so sad wtf

Christmas Eve on Privet Drive…Harry doesn’t have a stocking, but he’s going to change that.

[hollowed-theory-hall]

your post on harry’s handwriting was an eye-opener for me! ik his writing resembled his mother some and is decent overall, but i’ve never seen pics of it!

idk where the horde of fanfic writers came up with the weird notion that harry has bad/chicken scratch handwriting, which triggers me every. time. they make out his handwriting to be messy, his eating habits sloppy, his speech behaviour bumbling, his appearance unkempt, and that he’s rather messy as a person. which boggles the mind, because he’s used to cleaning up after the dursleys and probably enjoys an orderly space, if not super spic and span??? is it only certain fandoms, cuz they make the other character(s) all elegance personified and well-mannered? like, harry already is a well-mannered boy, otherwise petunia would’ve been tutting, clucking, and dying of shame even more before the nieghbours lmaoo. idk whether to cry or laugh, and sometimes it’s such a turn-off that i choose to rage quit fics.

please, if you have the time, i would love a thorough breakdown/meta on how harry actually comes across as a person!

Okay, I have so much to say about this. And omg, Harry's chicken scratch handwriting is one of my pet peeves in fics (here's the handwriting post, btw). Harry's characterization when done wrong in general, tbh is a huge turn-off for me. Becouse I love Harry, he's my boy.

So, what we're gonna look at is how other characters in the books perceive Harry, how he comes across in universe to people who can't read his mind (like we can, as the readers).

I'll start with a general note about how most characters in the books don't really know Harry. This is mostly because Harry, contrary to fanon interpretations, is a very private person and rarely talks about himself/his feelings/his thoughts out loud. This is a habit I believe was ingrained into him by the Dursleys.

Like, I mentioned in the past Harry doesn't talk as much as other characters. Scenes of the trio usually consist of mostly Ron and Hermione talking, for example. This is not becouse he doesn't have thoughts (he's quite judgmental inside his head, and we know he has a lot to say), but becouse he's used to not voicing a lot of them thanks to the Dursleys.

This essay turned out pretty long, but here we go:

How do others see Harry?

Harry comes off as confident. Harry is a defiant and courageous person, and this often comes off as confidence to other people. It's why Snape thinks Harry is arrogant and why most students are always sure Harry meant to do what he did. They think he has shit together because he comes off like he does:

Harry stayed silent. Snape was trying to provoke him into telling the truth. He wasn’t going to do it. Snape had no proof — yet. “How extraordinarily like your father you are, Potter,” Snape said suddenly, his eyes glinting. “He too was exceedingly arrogant. A small amount of talent on the Quidditch field made him think he was a cut above the rest of us too. Strutting around the place with his friends and admirers . . . The resemblance between you is uncanny.” “My dad didn’t strut,” said Harry, before he could stop himself. “And neither do I.”

(PoA, Ch14)

Snape sees Harry as arrogant, when in fact Harry is just defiant and intelligent.

“But you’ve been too busy saving the Wizarding world,” said Ginny, half laughing. “Well ... I can’t say I’m surprised. I knew this would happen in the end. I knew you wouldn’t be happy unless you were hunting Voldemort. Maybe that’s why I like you so much.”

(HBP, Ch30)

Ginny (and other characters) believe he likes to save the wizarding world. That he is this confident hero and savior. I mean, they believe her lie about the tattoo, which says a lot:

and all Romilda Vane does is ask me if it’s true you’ve got a hippogriff tattooed across your chest.” Ron and Hermione both roared with laughter. Harry ignored them. “What did you tell her?” “I told her it’s a Hungarian Horntail,” said Ginny, turning a page of the newspaper idly. “Much more macho.”

(HBP, Ch25)

Harry doesn't see himself as leader material, but it's clear everyone else does:

“I think we ought to elect a leader,” said Hermione. “Harry’s leader,” said Cho at once, looking at Hermione as though she were mad, and Harry’s stomach did yet another back flip. “Yes, but I think we ought to vote on it properly,” said Hermione, unperturbed. “It makes it formal and it gives him authority. So — everyone who thinks Harry ought to be our leader?” Everybody put up their hands, even Zacharias Smith, though he did it very halfheartedly. “Er — right, thanks,” said Harry, who could feel his face burning.

(OotP, Ch18)

Neville Longbottom, who gave a roar of delight, leapt down from the mantelpiece and yelled. “I knew you’d come! I knew it, Harry!”

(DH, Ch28)

“Look who it is! Didn’t I tell you?” As Harry emerged into the room beyond the passage, there were several screams and yells: “HARRY!” “It’s Potter, it’s POTTER!” “Ron!” “Hermione!” [...] “Are you all right, Harry?” Neville was saying. “Want to sit down? I expect you’re tired, aren’t—?” “No,” said Harry. He looked at Ron and Hermione, trying to tell them without words that Voldemort has just discovered the loss of one of the other Horcruxes. Time was running out fast: If Voldemort chose to visit Hogwarts next, they would miss their chance. “We need to get going,” he said, and their expression told him that they understood. “What are we going to do, then, Harry?” asked Seamus. “What’s the plan?” “Plan?” repeated Harry. He was exercising all his willpower to prevent himself succumbing again to Voldemort’s rage: His scar was still burning. “Well, there’s something we—Ron, Hermione, and I—need to do, and then we’ll get out of here.” Nobody was laughing or whooping anymore. Neville looked confused.

(DH, Ch29)

Everyone expected Harry in DH to have a plan of attack the moment he arrived because that's how he acts. Even in the above scene, he's in terrible pain from his scar, but the others don't see it. What they see is a Harry who looks exhausted but says no to rest because there's work to be done and they expect this of him. They see someone fearless and capable with a plan who could lead them, but this isn't what we see because we're inside his head.

How Harry doesn't speak much and acts overall quite distant, as in, he actively avoids the girls who fancy him:

Then he blinked and looked around: He was surrounded by mesmerized girls. “Hi, Harry!” said a familiar voice from behind him. “Neville!” said Harry in relief, turning to see a round-faced boy struggling toward him

(HBP, Ch7)

And he only has two close friends and barley knows the other students in his year. Most students only know Harry Potter from the stories, rumors, and Dumbledore's end-of-the-year speeches about his heroism. They have no clue who the real Harry is — so they expect the hero they do hear about.

He stands his ground a lot (again, defiance):

Harry turned to McLaggen to tell him that, most unfortunately, Ron had beaten him, only to find McLaggen’s red face inches from his own. He stepped back hastily. “His sister didn’t really try,” said McLaggen menacingly. There was a vein pulsing in his temple like the one Harry had often admired in Uncle Vernon’s. “She gave him an easy save.” “Rubbish,” said Harry coldly. “That was the one he nearly missed.”

(HBP, Ch11)

And more often than not, he does so coldly and calmly. A lot of his more fiery anger is a sign of trauma with Harry, his baseline anger reaction is cold.

All of this adds to him appearing to others as controlled, confident, and like he has everything together and could never have any issues. He comes off as this bigger than life person to most people. Snape isn't the only one who reads Harry's behavior as confident. But it's actually far from the truth.

We, as the readers, see how depressed Harry is. How lowly he thinks of himself and how much he doesn't think of himself as anything special when he very clearly is. But the fact he doesn't say any of it and has mastered the skill of acting cold and like everything is fine when he literally wants to die at the age of 5, no one knows. Even Ron and Hermione didn't truly realize the full extent of Harry's low self-worth until 5th year.

The other students are shocked to see Harry as angry as he is in book 5 because he's often way more controlled and well-mannered than that. They're used to seeing him cold and quiet, not firey. Most of his fire stays inside his head unless he's really angry or emotional in general (or traumatized):

Professor Umbridge sat down behind her desk again. Harry, however, stood up. Everyone was staring at him; Seamus looked half-scared, half-fascinated. “Harry, no!” Hermione whispered in a warning voice, tugging at his sleeve, but Harry jerked his arm out of her reach. “So, according to you, Cedric Diggory dropped dead of his own accord, did he?” Harry asked, his voice shaking. There was a collective intake of breath from the class, for none of them, apart from Ron and Hermione, had ever heard Harry talk about what had happened on the night that Cedric had died. They stared avidly from Harry to Professor Umbridge

(OotP, Ch12)

The shock of the other students, I believe, is because of what he's saying, yes, but it's also because Harry is behaving very unlike him here. He usually doesn't shout at teachers or anyone, really. He rarely speaks in classes actually.

And regarding his confidence, everyone, Ron and Hermione included, was sure Harry is super skilled and that that's how he evaded Voldemort:

“You don’t know what it’s like! You — neither of you — you’ve never had to face him, have you? You think it’s just memorizing a bunch of spells and throwing them at him, like you’re in class or something? The whole time you know there’s nothing between you and dying except your own — your own brain or guts or whatever — like you can think straight when you know you’re about a second from being murdered, or tortured, or watching your friends die — they’ve never taught us that in their classes, what it’s like to deal with things like that — and you two sit there acting like I’m a clever little boy to be standing here, alive, like Diggory was stupid, like he messed up — you just don’t get it, that could just as easily have been me, it would have been if Voldemort hadn’t needed me —” “We weren’t saying anything like that, mate,” said Ron, looking aghast. “We weren’t having a go at Diggory, we didn’t — you’ve got the wrong end of the —” He looked helplessly at Hermione, whose face was stricken.

(OotP, Ch15)

They didn't for a second think he wasn't confident in his own abilities because Harry acts in a way that comes off as confident and capable. It's why everyone so easily accepts him as a leader under various circumstances. He acts level-headed while he's terrified, so everyone thinks he knows what he's doing except Harry (and the reader). Ron and Hermione had zero doubts Harry's skill was a big part of why he survived book 4, it's only Harry who doesn't think that.

The fact Snape bothered to extract his own memories during his Occlumancy lessons goes to show how he thinks Harry is talented, contrary to his words. He feared Harry would reverse the connection and see into his mind, otherwise he wouldn't have taken these precautions.

Think of Voldemort’s resurrection even. Inside his mind, we know Harry's terrified. We know he has no idea what he's doing.

But imagine being a Death Eater in the crowd and you see this 14-year-old kid stand up after being Crucio-ed by their lord, and he stands up, resists the imperius, and shouts at your lord like he thinks of himself as equal to him — or, perhaps, better than him:

“I asked you whether you want me to do that again,” said Voldemort softly. “Answer me! Imperio!” [...] I WON’T!” And these words burst from Harry’s mouth; they echoed through the graveyard, and the dream state was lifted as suddenly as though cold water had been thrown over him — back rushed the aches that the Cruciatus Curse had left all over his body — back rushed the realization of where he was, and what he was facing. . . . “You won’t?” said Voldemort quietly, and the Death Eaters were not laughing now.

(GoF, Ch34)

That's pretty badass. Harry comes off like a confidant badass. And he gets more badass and confident as he matures (even if he isn't actually as confident as he appears).

Even in the DoM, Lucius Malfoy, who was in the graveyard, takes Harry seriously:

“Don’t do anything,” he [Harry] muttered. “Not yet —” The woman who had mimicked him let out a raucous scream of laughter. “You hear him? You hear him? Giving instructions to the other children as though he thinks of fighting us!” “Oh, you don’t know Potter as I do, Bellatrix,” said Malfoy softly. “He has a great weakness for heroics; the Dark Lord understands this about him. Now give me the prophecy, Potter.”

(OotP, Ch35)

Bellatrix makes fun of how Harry gives the other kids orders as if they're going to fight, but Lucius knows better, he knows Harry is going to fight, and I think, he's scared of what would happen when he does. Even Bellatrix quickly starts taking Harry more seriously:

“Oh, he knows how to play, little bitty baby Potter,” she said, her mad eyes staring through the slits in her hood. “Very well, then —”

(OotP, Ch35)

And she changes her tone completely after he casts a Crucio at her:

“Never used an Unforgivable Curse before, have you, boy?” she yelled. She had abandoned her baby voice now.

(OotP, Ch36)

His aura is one of competence and confidence even when he's frightened and has no idea what he's doing. Especially when he's frightened and has no idea what he's doing.

And for the most part, he doesn't come off nearly as judgmental as he actually is, because he doesn't say a lot of what he thinks. We only see him start to actually speak his mind and be more sassy out loud around 5th and 6th year. And even then, his highly judgmental physical descriptions stay part of his narration, they aren't spoken:

“That’s the bell,” said Harry listlessly, because Ron and Hermione were bickering too loudly to hear it. They did not stop arguing all the way down to Snape’s dungeon, which gave Harry plenty of time to reflect that between Neville and Ron he would be lucky ever to have two minutes’ conversation with Cho that he could look back on without wanting to leave the country.

(OotP, Ch12)

Ron and Hermione banter while Harry feels done with them, but he doesn't really say anything or complain. He keeps a lot of his thoughts inside his head.

If we look at how Ron, Hermione, and Sirius see Harry, they're the closest to who Harry actually is as these three know Harry best. (They're also more objective than Harry who looks down on himself)

After the book 5 conversation I mentioned above, Ron and Hermione are more aware of Harry's insecurities, but they find them silly. They see Harry as incredibly capable and skilled:

“Did he?” said Harry. Behind him he felt rather than heard Hermione passing his message to the others and he sought to keep talking, to distract the Death Eaters.

(OotP, Ch35)

“What are we going to do with them?” Ron whispered to Harry through the dark; then, even more quietly, “Kill them? They’d kill us. They had a good go just now.” Hermione shuddered and took a step backward. Harry shook his head. “We just need to wipe their memories,” said Harry.

(DH, Ch9)

When danger comes, everyone's instantly following Harry's lead. Harry's the planner when the situation is dangerous, he calls the shots, not Hermione. Hermione and Ron look to Harry for a plan when things get tough, and Harry always figures something out. Now, we see Harry thinking he has no idea what to do:

He could not think what to do but to keep talking. Neville’s arm was pressed against his, and he could feel him shaking. He could feel one of the other’s quickened breath on the back of his head. He was hoping they were all thinking hard about ways to get out of this, because his mind was blank.

(OotP, Ch35)

But Ron and Hermione don't. No one does. They just see Harry coming up with a plan to save them. Every time. They don't see him wracking his brain for a way to keep everyone alive.

Hermione never considers Harry stupid, not even in first year:

“I’m not as good as you,” said Harry, very embarrassed, as she let go of him. “Me!” said Hermione. “Books! And cleverness! There are more important things — friendship and bravery and — oh Harry — be careful!”

(PS, Ch16)

And Ron clearly doesn't expect stupid behavior from Harry. He's surprised and shocked when Harry does something he considers stupid:

“What the hell,” panted Ron, holding up the Horcrux, which swung backward and forward on its shortened chain in some parody of hypnosis, “didn’t you take this thing off before you dived?”

(DH, 19)

Both Ron and Hermione trust Harry's opinion and they trust him to know what to do when shit hits the fan. When things are dangerous, both Ron and Hermione (and everyone else) turn to Harry to know what to do becouse that's the aura he has:

“I’d tell him we’re all with him in spirit,” said Lupin, then hesitated slightly. “And I’d tell him to follow his instincts, which are good and nearly always right.” Harry looked at Hermione, whose eyes were full of tears. “Nearly always right,” she repeated.

(DH, Ch22)

Hermione agrees with Lupin's assessment here. Dumbledore did too, he's the one who told Kingsley and Remus to trust Harry's instincts. Harry doesn't give the impression he's messy and bumbling, quite the opposite. Yes, Harry and Hermione have their doubts, they don't agree with Harry on everything, especially when he has no evidence for his claim except his intuition. But, it's telling Harry can make claims based on gut feeling and Ron and Hermione ask him why he thinks that instead of just instantly rejecting the claims.

Like I mentioned above, he looks like he has his shit together even when he really doesn't. He's an expert in keeping a mask on and bottling up his feelings.

Sirius, also sees Harry as mature and capable for his age. It's why he's so insistent on telling him things while Molly wants to cuddle Harry:

“I don’t intend to tell him more than he needs to know, Molly,” said Sirius. “But as he was the one who saw Voldemort come back” (again, there was a collective shudder around the table at the name), “he has more right than most to —” “He’s not a member of the Order of the Phoenix!” said Mrs. Weasley. “He’s only fifteen and —” “— and he’s dealt with as much as most in the Order,” said Sirius, “and more than some —” “No one’s denying what he’s done!” said Mrs. Weasley, her voice rising, her fists trembling on the arms of her chair. “But he’s still—” “He’s not a child!” said Sirius impatiently.

(OotP, Ch5)

Between them, Sirius sees Harry more accurately. Harry is incredibly mature and capable and wants to be in the know. He'd be better off in the know. Sirius understands Harry's curiosity which Molly seems unaware of. Lupin also remarks on how Harry is going to find out things anyway, he's aware of how curious and determined Harry is. Sirius considers Harry capable even during PoA and GoF:

I know better than anyone that you can look after yourself and while you’re around Dumbledore and Moody I don’t think anyone will be able to hurt you.

(GoF, Ch18)

Molly, on the other hand, never really sees Harry's capabilities. Molly only ever sees a polite, intelligent kid. In the early years at the Weasley, Harry barely talks to Molly and Arthur because he doesn't really know how to talk to them. So they talk to him, the other Weasleys talk around him, and he's polite in turn:

“I don’t blame you, dear,” she assured Harry, tipping eight or nine sausages onto his plate. “Arthur and I have been worried about you, too. Just last night we were saying we’d come and get you ourselves if you hadn’t written back to Ron by Friday. But really” (she was now adding three fried eggs to his plate), “flying an illegal car halfway across the country — anyone could have seen you —”

(CoS, Ch3)

Harry acts around most adults like this, especially when younger. It's clear he acted this way around his teachers too:

“You see what you expect to see, Severus,” said Dumbledore, without raising his eyes from a copy of Transfiguration Today. “Other teachers report that the boy is modest, likable, and reasonably talented. Personally, I find him an engaging child.”

(DH, Ch33)

Snape got it a bit different. Because Harry is defiant and sassy — it's how he responds to the Dursleys, and this is how he responds to threats he can't do anything about in general. Sass. It's why we see Harry do this with Umbridge, Snape, and Scrimgeour:

Who do you imagine wants to attack children like yourselves?” inquired Professor Umbridge in a horribly honeyed voice. “Hmm, let’s think . . .” said Harry in a mock thoughtful voice, “maybe Lord Voldemort?”

(OotP, Ch12)

“Do you remember me telling you we are practicing nonverbal spells, Potter?” “Yes,” said Harry stiffly. “Yes, sir.” “There’s no need to call me ‘sir,’ Professor.”

(HBP, Ch9)

“...You may wear that scar like a crown, Potter, but it is not up to a seventeen-year-old boy to tell me how to do my job! It’s time you learned some respect!” “It’s time you earned it.” said Harry.

(DH, Ch7)

Harry appears confidant and arrogant not only to Snape but to Scrimgeour too (I think other students at Hogwarts see Harry as arrogant too. His demeanor can come off as arrogant if you don't know what he's thinking. It's why they could believe the Daily Prophet, it fit what they got to see). It's because he is rude and sassy when speaking his mind. It's because he acts more confident when he's terrified. It's because he's cold, distant, and uncaring towards most people and actively avoids talking to most.

And even that's mostly when he's older. In 4th year, he responds to Snape by glaring at him silently and wishing he could cast a Crucio at him:

Harry sat there staring at Snape as the lesson began, picturing horrific things happening to him. . . . If only he knew how to do the Cruciatus Curse . . . he’d have Snape flat on his back like that spider, jerking and twitching. . . .

(GoF, Ch18)

Harry is overall really quiet, which does create the impression of him being put together. More than he thinks of himself, for sure. It also adds to why many students feel as comfortable talking about him as they do because he feels distant to them. His quiet makes him feel mysterious, unknown, and far away. Like a symbol rather than a person.

Something I want to note, specifically with Umbridge, is this scene:

Harry looked around at Umbridge. She was watching him, her wide, toadlike mouth stretched in a smile. “Yes?” “Nothing,” said Harry quietly. He looked back at the parchment, placed the quill upon it once more, wrote I must not tell lies, and felt the searing pain on the back of his hand for a second time; once again the words had been cut into his skin, once again they healed over seconds later.

(OotP, Ch13)

Part of why Harry comes off as such a put-together badass is that he doesn't let others see his pain. He doesn't show he's in pain to others, especially when it's people he doesn't like. He acts though, constantly.

He hates crying in front of others becouse Harry does everything he can to not appear weak:

Harry suddenly realized that there were tears on his face mingling with the sweat. He bent his face as low as possible, wiping them off on his robes, pretending to do up his shoelace, so that Lupin wouldn’t see.

(PoA, Ch12)

And it works, people see him as confident, and capable, and heroic. Most people don't see the struggle because Harry keeps bottling it in.

Even with Hermione, he tries not to let her see how upset he actually is. We know in his head, that he is devastated by his wand breaking, that he's mourning it like it was a dead loved one, but this is what he's willing to show Hermione:

“It was an accident,” said Harry mechanically. He felt empty, stunned. “We’ll—we’ll find a way to repair it.” [...] “Well,” he said, in a falsely matter-of-fact voice, “well, I’ll just borrow yours for now, then. While I keep watch.”

(DH, Ch17)

All this means, we, as the readers , see Harry's pain, his struggles, his vulnerability — but the other characters almost never do.

The only character who is consistently aware of Harry's struggles is Sirius who Harry confides his weaknesses to more than any other character:

“Never mind me, how are you?” said Sirius seriously. “I’m —” For a second, Harry tried to say “fine” — but he couldn’t do it. Before he could stop himself, he was talking more than he’d talked in days

(GoF, Ch19)

Harry is so used to saying his fine and bearing his burdens in silence. It's what he does. It's what he did for years. Most characters think Harry is unshakable because that's how he acts.

Even when Harry tries to lie so Sirius won't worry, Sirius sees through it:

Nice try, Harry. I’m back in the country and well hidden. I want you to keep me posted on everything that’s going on at Hogwarts.

(GoF, Ch15)

As for his room and appearance, he is a little messy actually when he has the chance to be in seventh year:

Harry had spent the morning completely emptying his school trunk for the first time since he had packed it six years ago. At the start of the intervening school years, he had merely skimmed off the topmost three quarters of the contents and replaced or updated them, leaving a layer of general debris at the bottom—old quills, desiccated beetle eyes, single socks that no longer fit.

(DH, Ch2)

As in, his trunk is a bit of a mess. But this makes sense, I think. He allows himself to be messy when he doesn't have the Dursleys over his head. It's like a sort of freedom he didn't have before, so he indulges in it. I think the mess in his trunk is also a result of him actually living from it for 6 years, as he couldn't really leave everything at home with the Dursleys, could he? Still, his room and belongings are nowhere near as messy as Ron's.

As for his appearance, the only thing mentioned to be messy is his hair:

His jet-black hair, however, was just as it always had been — stubbornly untidy, whatever he did to it

(PoA, Ch1)

But from other characters (including Hermione) thinking Harry's hot:

“Oh, come on, Harry,” said Hermione, suddenly impatient. “It’s not Quidditch that’s popular, it’s you! You’ve never been more interesting, and frankly, you’ve never been more fanciable.”

(HBP, Ch11)

We can conclude Harry's messy hair comes off as cool and attractive and not like a bird's nest.

We also see from Hermione and others that Harry looks scary. He is 5'11 by book 6 with an intimidating glare and that he looks like he can throw a punch, (and can definitely throw a punch when he wants to). So he has a physical intimidation factor when older:

“Well, it’s like Hagrid said, they can look after themselves,” said Hermione impatiently, “and I suppose a teacher like Grubbly-Plank wouldn’t usually show them to us before N.E.W.T. level, but, well, they are very interesting, aren’t they? The way some people can see them and some can’t! I wish I could.” “Do you?” Harry asked her quietly. She looked horrorstruck. “Oh Harry — I’m sorry — no, of course I don’t — that was a really stupid thing to say —”

(OotP, Ch21)

Harry was not aware of releasing George, all he knew was that a second later both of them were sprinting at Malfoy. He had completely forgotten the fact that all the teachers were watching: All he wanted to do was cause Malfoy as much pain as possible. With no time to draw out his wand, he merely drew back the fist clutching the Snitch and sank it as hard as he could into Malfoy’s stomach — “Harry! HARRY! GEORGE! NO!” He could hear girls’ voices screaming, Malfoy yelling, George swearing, a whistle blowing, and the bellowing of the crowd around him, but he did not care, not until somebody in the vicinity yelled “IMPEDIMENTA!” and only when he was knocked over backward by the force of the spell did he abandon the attempt to punch every inch of Malfoy he could reach. . . .

(OotP, Ch19)

To summarise

Harry bottles up a lot of his emotions and tends to be quiet, this creates the often wrong impression he is confident and has his shit together.

He doesn't show pain and weakness to others and doesn't cry or show he's upset to basically anyone (except Sirius). This means basically no one sees his struggles or how depressed and traumatized Harry actually is. It even surprises Ron and Hermione in book 5.

He is defiant and rude to people he doesn't like, especially when scared, the result is that he appears like a very capable and confident badass especially when under pressure.

He can be intimidating with his glare alone and once he's older he is a physical presence. He's not someone who can disappear in a crowd post-book 5.

His rudeness oftentimes stays in his head except when someone really annoys him. This makes him appear defiant, but overall polite because he keeps most of his mean comments to himself.

When younger, he is very polite and quiet, especially toward adults. When he's older, he gets a little sassier (as in, he says some of his internal monologue out loud). But he is a polite, well-mannered kid for the most part.

The character who has a messy room, is a bit of a slob, has chicken scratch handwriting, and is lazy with schoolwork, is Ronald Weasley, who I love dearly, but these descriptions have nothing to do with Harry and everything to do with Ron.

The only unkempt thing about Harry's appearance is likely his Potter hair, which is more messy hot than messy bad (if all the girls' reactions are anything to go by).

[wisteria-lodge]

JK Rowling & the Color Pink

So I'm working on a thing about queer coding in the Harry Potter books... and first I needed to do a sidebar on how the color pink is used. I’ve made a list of every time a character either wears pink, or is heavily associated with a pink object. We actually get some pretty clear categories that are unintentionally very revealing, and say a lot about how JKR sees "girly" femininity.

Let’s start off with the obvious: 

PINK = VILLAIN (FEMME) 

Petunia Dursley: “salmon-pink cocktail dress," "neat salmon-colored coat." Also paints her walls "a sickly peach color."

Gilderoy Lockhart: “lurid pink robes to match the decorations” 

Pansy Parkinson: “very frilly robes of pale pink” 

Rita Skeeter: “long nails were painted shocking pink” 

Aunt Muriel: “feathery pink hat gave her the look of a bad-tempered flamingo.” 

(Aunt Muriel only shows up briefly at Bill and Fleur’s wedding, but then proceeds to insult pretty much every other character, and give Harry an existential crisis by spilling the tea on Dumbledore)

Dolores Umbridge: “a horrible pink Alice band that matched the fluffy pink cardigan.” 

(Also: has pink stationary, and her pamphlet MUDBLOODS and the Dangers They Pose to a Peaceful Pure-Blood Society has a pink cover) 

Cho Chang

(Okay. Not a villain per se, BUT. Cho is the reason the mole gets into the DA in the books (and just is the mole in the films.) And given that she is a sort of Umbridge-aligned sub villain in book 5, at least structurally... it IS interesting that the place she brings Harry for a date has this very pink, Umbridge-coded description. 

It was a cramped, steamy little place where everything seemed to have been decorated with frills or bows. Harry was reminded unpleasantly of Umbridge’s office. “Cute, isn’t it?” said Cho happily. “Er . . . yeah,” said Harry untruthfully. “Look, she’s decorated it for Valentine’s Day!” said Cho, indicating a number of golden cherubs that were hovering over each of the small, circular tables, occasionally throwing pink confetti over the occupants.

Fleur Delacour: “[her wand] emitted a number of pink and gold sparks.” 

(Also not quite a villain, and I adore Fleur BUT… she’s written hyper-femme in an intimidating, borderline threatening way. She’s very opinionated, bordering on rude. She’s “full of herself” as Ginny puts it. And when she gets engaged to Bill and becomes an unambiguously good guy, she has this interesting moment of ~Pink Rejection~)

“. . . Bill and I ’ave almost decided on only two bridesmaids, Ginny and Gabrielle will look very sweet togezzer. I am theenking of dressing zem in pale gold — pink would of course be ’orrible with Ginny’s ’air —”

Hermione Granger: “Wearing a pink bathrobe and a frown”

(Hermione wears pink exactly one time, and it is at her most villainous… during Book 1, when she tries to stop Harry and Ron leaving in the middle of the night to go duel Malfoy.)

A voice spoke from the chair nearest them, “I can’t believe you’re going to do this, Harry.” A lamp flickered on. It was Hermione Granger, wearing a pink bathrobe and a frown. “You!” said Ron furiously. “Go back to bed!” “I almost told your brother,” Hermione snapped, “Percy — he’s a prefect, he’d put a stop to this.” Harry couldn’t believe anyone could be so interfering.

(She literally does the sitting-in-the-dark, villain-lamp thing. Also, in case you were wondering, yes Hermione DOES get a moment of ~Pink Rejection~)

Near the window was an array of violently pink products around which a cluster of excited girls was giggling enthusiastically. Hermione and Ginny both hung back, looking wary.

Which brings us too: 

PINK = SILLY/FRIVOLOUS (FEMME) 

Sybill Trelawney: “after you’ve broken your first cup, would you be so kind as to select one of the blue-patterned ones? I’m rather attached to the pink.”

(She’s a fraud. Also hides empty bottles of sherry in the room of requirement. (I’m going to have to be uncharitable in this section, so am sorry.) 

Parvati Patil: “robes of shocking pink"

(Often described as “giggling,” thinks Professor Trelawney is amazing, the real deal.)

The Fat Lady: “a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.” 

(Often described as giggling. Drinks too much during the holidays. JRK is unfortunately well known for being fatphobic. Also the Fat Lady has a friend named Violet, and Parvati has a friend named Lavender. Not really going anywhere with that, just funny that they’re both shades of purple.)

Hepzibah Smith: “an immensely fat old lady wearing an elaborate ginger wig and a brilliant pink set of robes.” 

(So… almost identical description to the Fat Lady. And I think we should maybe talk about her more, maybe? Because the way she’s framed… I think she might be Tom Riddle’s sugar mamma?)

“I brought you flowers,” he said quietly, producing a bunch of roses from nowhere. “You naughty boy, you shouldn’t have!” squealed old Hepzibah, though Harry noticed that she had an empty vase standing ready on the nearest little table. “You do spoil this old lady, Tom. . . .” 

(Or maybe we… shouldn’t talk about that. Either way, Tom Riddle does kill her, steal her stuff, and frame her house elf so thats… not great.)

PINK = EMBARRASSING 

“Everyone take a pair of earmuffs,” said Professor Sprout. There was a scramble as everyone tried to seize a pair that wasn’t pink and fluffy.

(Pink fluffy earmuffs are adorable.)

“Wash out your mouth,” said James coldly. “Scourgify!” Pink soap bubbles streamed from Snape’s mouth at once; the froth was covering his lips, making him gag.

(The next two example are 'pranks' as well, I think the pink-colored soap is there to add a kind of insult to injury.)

Shocking-pink Catherine wheels five feet in diameter were whizzing lethally through the air like so many flying saucers. 

(This is a bit from Fred and George’s farewell firework show, it's funny that they’re specifically pink fireworks that Umbridge can’t get rid of.)

“Headless Hats!” shouted George, as Fred waved a pointed hat decorated with a fluffy pink feather at the watching students. “Two Galleons each — watch Fred, now!” Fred swept the hat onto his head, beaming. For a second he merely looked rather stupid, then both hat and head vanished.

(also just, pumping up an embarrassing moment)

PINK = OUTSIDER, WEIRDO

Hagrid

Hagrid’s flowered pink umbrella, which contains his broken wand, is brought up a lot. In this case I think we’re meant to see it as a joke. Hagrid’s so big, and so masc, but the pink umbrella makes him non-threatening. However… the pink umbrella, it’s not a totally positive thing, is it? It doesn’t match, it isn’t *him.* Hagrid wouldn't have chosen to carry this around, totally on his own, if he'd had any other choice. It sets him apart, both visually and socially (because it's a constant reminder that he doesn't have a wand.)

Dobby

Dobby, once he is freed, gets pink-and-orange striped socks, and they’re meant to communicate that he’s… kind of a lot. “Yeh get weirdos in every breed,” as Hagrid puts it. JKR has a very strange, honestly antagonistic relationship with Dobby. He’s the victim of book 2, but structurally kind of the villain? He describes the house-elves situation as “enslavement,” but Hermione’s treated as overdramatic for calling house-elves slaves two books later. And then everything is ret-conned and Dobby is… just kind of weird for liking freedom (and socks) as much as he does.

Tonks

Book!Tonks defaults to “bubblegum-pink” hair. Her hair is described as pink a lot. (Movie!Tonks defaults to purple hair, because they were worried that pink would visually align her with Umbridge.) And this is the oddest one on the list to me, because Tonks is such a universally beloved, fan favorite character. But I really do think that *as written*... we’re supposed to put her in a category with Dobby. The two of them leave (unintentional) destruction in their wake. They’re loud, they’re a lot, they take up too much space. Harry thinks they’re both kind of annoying. (and yeah, Harry 100% thinks  Tonks is “a little annoying at times.”)

[sitp-recs]

Masterlist Drarry Recs - Pt 4

Tropes:

A/B/O | Bottom Alpha | Omega Harry

8th year enemies to friends to lovers

Age difference

An event brings them together

Beauxbatons and Durmstrang AUs

Blowing each others mind (smut)

Cutesy 8th year

Curses, pranks and bad luck

Competent Drarry

D/s undertones

Demon Drarry

Drarry in fist fights

Ensemble cast

Emotional maturity

Epistolary

Fics set in a forest

Forced marriage | Married Drarry

Funny Mpreg

Gay awakening + trans Drarry

Hurt/comfort manipulation

Jealousy

Love/hate relationship

Magical theory and worldbuilding

Marauders Map

Morning after (intimacy)

“It isn’t like this with other people”

Drarry as each other’s safe place

Drarry in America

Drarry surprising the world

Drarry sacrificing their relationship

Drarry working through relationship issues

Realizing feelings and running away

Situationship | Toxic relationship

Long-distance relationship

Power imbalance

Pride and Prejudice AU

Draco in Azkaban

Draco learns about the Dursleys

Draco helps Harry heal his trauma

Harry defends Draco in the trials

Harry thinks Draco is Up to Something

Mental illness

Kid fic + humour | Secret pregnancy 1 & 2

University AU

Water-centric fics

Wedding planning

Witty fics

Workplace romance

T-rated comfort fics

Characters:

Age gap + Next Gen

Casual Drarry with other people | OMC

Drarry in a M/M/F threesome

Ron & Hermione dating other people

Draco & Ron friendship

Smart Harry

Harry helping Draco heal

Harry learns about old magic/pureblood society

Harry spoiling Draco

Harry comes back “wrong”

Sad but sweet Harry (8th year)

Harry living in a cottage

Dominant Harry | Possessive Harry

Talented Harry

Injured/disabled Harry

Magically Powerful Drarry

Rugged Drarry (manual labor)

Sexually inexperienced Harry

Harry cheats on Ginny with Draco

Dark Draco

Drunk Draco

Smitten Draco | Smitten Harry

Stalker Drarry | Unhinged Drarry

Draco changes after the war

Draco on parole

Guilty Draco & redemption arc

Draco is adopted by the Gryffindors

Manic Pixie Dream Girl Draco

Older Draco x younger Harry

Long Draco-centric fics | Long Harry-centric fics

Misc:

Drarry recs 2021-2023

Drarry WIPs

Canon style

My comfort rereads

Emotionally complex stories

Underrated fics

Long plotty fics (2024)

Spring reads

Top 5/10 ask game lists

[inkyarcturus]

Tw: Child abuse

While I don’t envision Harry to be a particularly jealous person in the books, I can’t help but think about certain situations with Severitus where that emotion might come out.

I especially think about it when fanfics depict Severus as a protector for abused children in slytherin or Hogwarts as a whole. I think Harry seeing how Snape treats other children compared to him would enrage him.

Just seeing everything that he could have if things were just a little bit different, if he was sorted into slytherin, or if he just had a different father, or some other insignificant thing, he could have had the love, care and protection he always wanted. He could have had someone on his side who actually fought for him, was willing to do the hard stuff for him.

But he doesn’t just get jealous of how Snape treats other children, he gets jealous of the fact that Snape FINDS OUT about the other children’s abuse. He sees how easily Severus seems to pick up on other kids flinching, hiding injuries, or peculiar behavior, taking them aside after class within the first year, first month of school. Yet, after years of knowing him, Snape seems to have no clue. He sees that and can’t help but think why not him as well, he gets so so angry.

The anger and jealousy doesn’t stick however as he just ends up thinking maybe the way the dursleys treat him isn’t so bad, after all, if the number one person in the school for detecting abuse can’t see it, maybe it’s not actually abuse. And anyways, he should be grateful the other kids have someone to go to.

And somewhere deep down he thinks it’s his fault, because he has gotten rather good at covering up their tracks over the years. How can he blame the Professor when he purposefully hides the evidence?

Anyways hope yall enjoyed this rant :D