#because with snape and james and sirius and remus and lily and even wormtail it's harder to deny there's canon material

[xslytherclawx-writes]

i'm rewatching the movies Because Reasons and it's always so funny to me when people act like barty doesn't have a canonical personality like my friend he is a main character in one of the longest books, and even if he's pretending to be someone else we can glean a lot about who he really is especially when you compare him to the real moody in the later books

[celestemagnoliathewriter]

Sirius Black Appreciation Post

Time to celebrate Sirius Black's birthday by highlighting my favorite canon facts 🥳

Sirius is tall. We're talking at least 6'.

He's intelligent AF. He became an Animagus at 15. He charmed a Muggle motorbike to fly (Arthur couldn't do that with a car, Sirius did it in his late teens, latest at age 20). He escaped from Azkaban. He got a cat to order a racing broom. My man is brilliant, no doubt about it.

Sirius has a complicated relationship with his mother and it is *not* merely hatred. Note that he did not destroy his mother's portrait, or slash it as he did with the Fat Lady's. I'm confident that he could've figured out a way to destroy it or otherwise get rid of it, but he doesn't. His refuge is in his mother's old room with Buckbeak. There's something very complicated in his relationship with his family that can't be labeled as simple loathing. Sirius may have run away from home at 15/16, but his background 100% shaped him and left its mark on his personality and psyche.

Sirius was good friends with Lily. The letter from Lily to Sirius is great proof of that - it wasn't James who wrote that letter, but LILY. Sirius was smiling and genuinely happy at Jily's wedding.

Sirius is emotionally driven, and lashes out *with good reason.* When he goes after Wormtail the night the Potters died, it's because Harry is taken away from him. He has nothing to hold him down - and even gives his motorbike to Hagrid. When he tries to get to Wormtail in PoA, he slashes the portrait but doesn't harm a single boy in his search for the rat. When he goes to the Department of Mysteries, his focus is on Harry. These are good reasons, even if it puts him in danger.

Sirius has a great sense of humor. He puts little Santa hats on the decapitated elf heads. He chases pigeons as Padfoot just to make Harry smile. He sends a good luck note with a muddy paw print. He is scathingly funny, when he derides Peter's hero worship of James in Snape's Worst Memory. He's bitter and sarcastic. We love to see it.

Sirius is a baby boomer. He was born in 1959. "Ok, boomer," is an applicable retort.

Sirius is not misogynistic. He does not hate women. He is often kinder to women than men. He helps Ginny up in OoTP. No matter how angry he gets at Molly, he is never, ever physical with her (unlike the way Sirius is with snape, who he does get physically aggressive with). He is kind to Hermione. He had a great relationship with Lily. Even in the end, his last words to Bellatrix are 'you can do better than that.'

Sirius does not have a canonical love interest.

Sirius is willing to challenge Dumbledore. This is an important point - with so many people deferring to Dumbledore's judgment, including Remus, the Weasleys, and Harry - Sirius will challenge him and his decisions. He may not get his way, but Sirius has the personal strength and confidence to challenge one of the greatest wizards of all time.

Sirius was great with animals. Crookshanks and Buckbeak are prime examples of this.

Sirius is deeply flawed: he can get very intense. He can be rash, even if he has good reasons. He can be bitter to the point of hurting others ('the risk would've made it fun for James'). He can be cruel and condescending (my robes have enough filth without you touching them/wormail will piss himself with excitement). He can be callous (wishing it was the full moon, sending Snape on a potentially deadly adventure). He's a hurricane of deep, complex emotions.

Canon Sirius would obliterate fanon Sirius.

Happy birthday, Sirius. You would've loved James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna. You'd have had the time of your life at Hinny's wedding. You are an absolute king.

[fanfic-lover-girl]

Double Standards: Malfoys vs Potters Edition

It's interesting how people view the Malfoy vs Potter men. The Malfoys are often considered shallow while the Potters are lauded for befriending the "downtrodden".

James Potter befriended Remus Lupin, a disadvantaged werewolf. He and his friends became animagi for Lupin. That's great and all...but then why was Remus so hesitant to go against the status quo and speak out against the marauders - to do his job as prefect?

And James treated Wormtail like trash too.

‘How thick are you, Wormtail?’ said James impatiently. ‘You run round with a werewolf once a month –’

Nice to say that out loud where anyone can hear, Jamie.

‘Put that away, will you,’ said Sirius finally, as James made a fine catch and Wormtail let out a cheer, ‘before Wormtail wets himself with excitement.’ Wormtail turned slightly pink, but James grinned.

“Lily and James only made you Secret Keeper because I suggested it,” Black hissed, so venomously that Pettigrew took a step backwards. “I thought it was the perfect plan… a bluff… Voldemort would be sure to come after me, would never dream they’d use a weak, talentless thing like you… it must have been the finest moment of your miserable life, telling Voldemort you could hand him the Potters.”

You really don't get the vibe that Sirius or James held little Petie in high regard, do you?

It can't be more obvious that Sirus and James were top dogs and Peter and Remus were just add-ons.

As for Harry, where to start with him? He shows little empathy for other people and has a nasty habit of describing people in dehumanizing ways (eg. Aberforth, Salazar Slytherin, Marcus etc). He has probably described Tom Riddle, the guy who murdered his parents, as attractive more times than his own girlfriend Ginny. He latched on to Ron because of his family and honestly, Hermione feels like a pity friend at times. Harry hardly likes being around her without Ron. Harry has another nasty habit of giving his best friends the silent treatment until they come crawling back to him, even when he is in the wrong too (re firebolt for Hermione and Ron believing Harry entered his name in the goblet of fire).

‘Hullo,’ said the boy, ‘Hogwarts too?’ ‘Yes,’ said Harry. ‘My father’s next door buying my books and mother’s up the street looking at wands,’ said the boy. He had a bored, drawling voice. ‘Then I’m going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don’t see why first-years can’t have their own. I think I’ll bully father into getting me one and I’ll smuggle it in somehow.’

Yet, no one seems to give Lucius and Draco any credit. These people are supposed to be snobby, pureblood supremacists. Yet, even though Harry was dressed in decrepit muggle clothes, Draco still engaged him in conversation. Draco had no idea who Harry was, had no clue he was famous at the time, and still made several efforts to talk with him and continue the conversation even when Harry was cold and aloof.

And Severus Snape moved off to the other side of the Hall, away from Lily, to where the Slytherins were cheering him, to where Lucius Malfoy, a prefect badge gleaming upon his chest, patted Snape on the back as he sat down beside him …

Lucius knows 'Snape' is not a pureblood name. He could see Snape's clothes were probably old hand-me-downs. He knows Snape is way below his class. Yet, he still welcomes Snape warmly to Slytherin. What reason would he have to fake pleasantries with a poor half-blood? I doubt Slughorn or the other bigoted purebloods would care if Lucius left his seat in disgust at Snape's presence. Even as adults, it is indicated in the narrative multiple times that Lucius holds Snape in high esteem. Draco held Snape in high esteem too despite being a halfblood.

The same Snape that James Potter tormented for no good reason - because Snape existed. Instead of targetting the purebloods like Avery and Mulciber, James and his delinquent loser gang went after Snape, the poor half-blood. Harry literally did nothing as Snape lay dying in the same shack that Lupin almost killed him in two decades prior.

Harry describes Pansy as being pug-faced...yet Draco still dated her. Even though Crabbe turned on him, Draco still grieved for him afterwards. Compared to Harry who only dates the prettiest girls and body shames other girls if they don't meet his standard and only cares about people who do things for him, like him and are loyal to him. It's only when the people he dislikes die for him that he changes his tune and suddenly they become great people.

How can people say the Potters are less shallow than the Malfoys??Draco and Lucius will always be high-class elitists who believe in sticking with their 'own kind' but give credit where credit is due.

[peotego]

Unconditionally | James Potter

Pairing: James Potter x fem!Black!reader

Summary: Three times when you realised you are in love with your brother’s best friend and one time when it all suddenly made sense.

Warnings: some swear words, my English? (since it’s not my first language)

Words: 4k

Masterlist

James' POV

*~*~*

Whenever I tried to think back to the time when it all started, I couldn’t exactly pinpoint the moment when I realised I loved James Potter.

He was my brother’s best friend, for Merlin’s sake!

I remember I hated him when we first met. Maybe it was because he was a Potter and my father told us to never befriend a Potter? I was, after all, a daddy’s girl at that time. Sirius loved the idea of going against our father’s orders but me? Not really. I was a good girl.

I stopped being the favourite child of the Black family when I was sorted to Gryffindor alongside my twin brother. It caused a lot of arguing back at home. Sirius was proud to be a Gryffindor. Me? Not so much. Imagine being the favourite child spoiled with compliments only to become a black sheep. I couldn’t bear it. But maybe it was good because it helped me to bond with my brother more? I was even more furious when Regulus was sorted to Slytherin the year after that and took my rightful place on the pedestal. Finally, I understood how my brothers have always felt.

At that time Sirius was a great friend. He helped me get through all the bad feelings I had about myself for something that wasn’t really my fault. Finally, I was okay with all that had happened.

But back to James Potter. The thorn in my side.

Everybody knew he loved Lily Evans, he wasn’t very discreet about his big, awful crush on her. The whole bloody Hogwarts knew about his infatuation with the redhead girl. I used to tease him about it alongside Sirius, Remus, and Peter.

Maybe it was in our 6th year? When I realised?

We were all sitting in Potions classes when Slughorn decided we should work in pairs. I turned to Lily because we usually partnered up.

“Oh, no, no, no,” said Slughron with a big smile on his face “We should mix things up a bit. I’m going to assign your partners”

All of the students present growled at his revelation. I feared I would end up with some Slytherin bloke. However, Slughorn had other plans.

And in that way, Sirius ended up working with Peter (a disaster indeed), Remus was assigned to some Slytherin girl (poor Remus), Lily with Severus Snape (well, they were still friends at that point), Dorcas with a shy girl from Gryffindor, I believed her name was Lucy (Lucy was good at Potions so Dorcas won a partners lottery), Marlene and Mary together (they worked good together), and that left me with James Potter.

I smiled at him but inside I was screaming. Everybody knew Potter was good at every single class but he rarely paid attention to the instructions. I knew I would end up doing all the work myself and constantly reminding him to focus. What I didn’t anticipate was that we would be working on an Amortentia potion. Slughorn first called us to see what the potion should look like and, of course, he asked us what we could smell.

When I tried to concentrate, I recognised the smell of old books, my favourite candy from Honeydukes, Andromeda’s famous pumpkin pie, and something I couldn’t quite recognise.

That’s when the revelation came and I was hit in the face with the smell of James’ cologne. I thought he was standing too close to me but when I looked around he was actually close to Lily Evans bothering her.

The whole class was a nightmare only because I now knew that somehow James Potter’s smell was in MY Amortentia potion. His constant questions about what I could smell didn’t help either. He was too curious for his own good.

“Just drop it, Potter”

“You probably smelled a wet rat”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night”

“I couldn’t sleep if I knew you fancied Wormtail”

“Stop, Potter, or I’m going to hex you”

“Always a charmer, Black”

He tried to touch my shoulder but I was still too scared from the moments before when I smelled him in the potion so I shuffled a little so as not to be touched by the boy. James looked confused and his smile dropped a little but I paid no attention to it, too preoccupied with my own conflicting thoughts.

When the class ended, I quickly packed my bags and left the classroom.

We never talked about it again.

*~*~*

Maybe it was at a party after Gryffindor won with Slytherin? We were all having a blast till the very end. I danced with my friends, drank a lot, and flirted with some boys who tried to get my attention. It wasn’t until our little group of friends were the only ones that stayed in the common room. Marlene had a genius plan to play Spin the Bottle. You had to kiss the person it landed on.

“I’m not going to kiss my sister, McKinnon,” said Sirius. I pretended to vomit at the mere thought of it.

“He’s right, Marlene, what are we supposed to do if it lands on one of us? I know Blacks have a tradition of marrying within the family but I really do not wish to continue this madness”

“Okay, if you don’t want to kiss someone, you need to answer a question truthfully and drink”

We all agreed to that.

Now I see it was stupid.

Remus spun the bottle first and it landed on Peter.

“Truth, please,” said Lupin and we all laughed.

“Okay, Remus, who was your first real kiss?” asked Mary. Remus looked uncomfortable, and so did I because I knew the truth.

“Um, I don’t know if she wants her identity to be revealed” Remus tried to dodge the question.

“Shut up, Moony, you agreed to play the game!” Sirius gave him a shot of firewhiskey which he needed to drink after answering the question.

“Okay” Remus sighed “It was (Y/N)”

“You kissed my sister?!”

“You wanted me to tell the truth!”

“I think I made myself very clear when I said that my sister is off-limits for you idiots!”

“Well, brother, that’s why the kiss was so good” I tried defending Remus but probably made it worse “Because it was forbidden” I winked at Remus who quickly emptied his glass and blushed like crazy.

“This conversation isn’t over” Sirius pointed at his friend “Are you going to tell me you snogged Prongs and Wormtail too?” he asked me.

“You’ll never know, brother”

Peter spinned the bottle next and it landed on Mary. It was a quick kiss.

Mary needed then to kiss Marlene.

Marlene kissed my brother who then kissed Lily.

Lily spun the bottle and I saw that James wanted really badly for it to land on him. His dreams were crushed when it stopped at Dorcas.

Then Dorcas kissed Remus.

But when Remus spun again it landed on me.

“Come here, Remus, for old times’ sake”

Sirius screamed something I couldn’t understand. The kiss with Remus was sweet and quick, just like I remembered our first one. I smiled reassuringly at him after but I knew my brother would talk his ears off later on.

I took the bottle and spun it. I prayed it wouldn’t land on Sirius.

Well.

The bottle landed on James Potter instead.

“Two out of three. Better get ready Peter” I said with a smirk but inside I was actually stressed. I still remembered his smell in amortentia.

James slowly made his way to me never once breaking the eye contact. He sat in front of me, staring intensely. He put his hand on my cheek when his lips met mine. I shut my eyes closed and kissed him back. His lips were soft and, Merlin, he knew what he was doing when he pushed his tongue inside my mouth. I grasped his shirt bringing him closer to me and biting on his lower lip. He moaned a little trying to kiss me even harder but he had too much strength and it ended up with us falling to the ground, James on top of me.

“That’s enough, Prongs, it’s my sister” Sirius helped James get up and then gave me a hand.

I don’t remember much from that party after that.

My mind was still fixated on that little moan.

James Potter’s kiss made my legs weak.

It was mind-blowing.

*~*~*

The party was long forgotten when next day James declared his undying love for Lily Evans to the whole school during breakfast. I tried to squish my little crush when I still had the chance to move on.

At the end of our 6th year, I knew I was fucked. I noticed every single little thing about James Potter. I liked the way those little wrinkles appeared at the corners of his eyes when he was laughing. I loved his jokes. I adored how much he cared for his friends and family, how he could do absolutely everything in his power to cheer Remus up after a full moon, how he got out of his way to tell Sirius and me that our family name didn’t define us as people, how he would defend Peter when Sirius was making fun of him.

I was even mad at Lily for not seeing how wonderful he was. I was furious when she was still rejecting him, making fun of him. He didn’t deserve that. He deserved to be loved unconditionally. He deserved someone who would fall madly, truly, deeply in love with him, who would know all his quirks and bad sides and even though still love him for who he was.

James Potter was loud and obnoxious and he did strut a little but he was also devoted to his friends, funny, caring, and good-hearted. And if Lily Evans didn’t see that, it was my personal mission to make James realise that he deserved better.

Sirius and I spent the summer at the Potters. My brother went there for almost every school break but it was maybe my third time there. I didn’t want to leave Reggie alone with our parents but turned out he was more than okay with their way of treating me. That was when I sent an owl to Sirius and he told me to pack my bags and go to the Potters.

We had a lot of fun together. We laughed, we played quidditch, we talked a lot, and I even helped them plan their next prank for the beginning of our last year at Hogwarts. Euphemia Potter was a sweet lady who welcomed me to her house with open arms. I helped her a lot around the house and talked to her about every little thing I couldn’t talk about with my mother. She was great, she made me realise that maybe I had a mother but I never had a mom.

Fleamont Potter was just like James but older. He made a lot of jokes, gave us candy when his wife wasn’t looking, he even asked me if I could marry his son once.

”You see, (Y/N), I believe you would be a great match for my son. I see how he looks at you, how his smile is wider whenever you are near. He talks about his mystery girl a lot but he could never tell us when we would be able to meet the love of his life, as he likes to call her. Now I see why. Sirius is always around and I’m not sure he would be okay with his best friend dating his sister”

”Oh, Mr Potter, I think you have it all wrong. I appreciate the vote of confidence but I am not James’ mystery girl. Her name is Lily and she’s my friend”

”We’ll see about that, (Y/N)”

During one evening Sirius went to bed earlier because he didn’t feel good and that left me and James alone in his backyard, lying on the grass and looking up at the night sky.

”Jamie, your father wants me to marry you”

”What?!”

”Yeah, crazy, right? He thinks I’m your mystery girl”

”Oh, and what did you tell him?”

”That it’s definitely not me. That I know the girl you have a crush on and he said that we’ll see”

”I have no idea why he said that I’m very sorry”

”No big deal, Potter”

After a moment of silence, I decided it was time to talk to James about Lily. I was nervous and a little scared that the conversation would ruin our friendship.

”James”

”(Y/N)”

”I’ve been thinking about you and Lily for a while”

”Oh?”

”Yeah” I took a deep breath before continuing,” I think she doesn’t deserve you”

”How so?”

”You see, Jamie, you’ve been trying to get the girl since we were thirteen years old and she’s still not even slightly interested in going on a date with you. She’s always laughing at you, turning you down. I don’t think that’s very good for you. I get that you’re in love with her but maybe you should start thinking about yourself a little bit?”

James was quiet for a moment.

”What do you mean?”

”You deserve the world, James Potter. You deserve a girl who will be madly in love with you. You deserve a girl who will love you unconditionally. You are a good guy. Sure, you have your faults. We all have them. But you should be loved the way you love other people - wholeheartedly. I don’t think Lily is the right girl for you. I’m also not saying you should do whatever I’m telling you right now. I just believe you should think about it a little bit and decide if it’s even worth it. Because you, James Potter, are definitely worth it and it’s her loss if she cannot see that”

”Wow, Black, do you have a crush on me or something?” He chuckled making my heart hurt a little bit.

”You’re also an idiot” I slapped his shoulder but laughed with him too. Despite my smile, my heart was breaking a little bit just because the thought of me having a crush on James only made him laugh. ”I’m your friend, I just hate to see you struggling so much”

”You are a good mate, (Y/N). Thank you for always looking out for me” James took my hand in his and interceded our fingers. He softly caressed my hand with his thumb.

”Always”

*~*~*

During our 7th year, everything changed. James Potter suddenly stopped being interested in Lily Evans anymore. And that was a big, juicy gossip at Hogwarts. How could it have happened that James Potter just stopped loving Lily Evans? Could he have another girl? Maybe he had a secret girlfriend?

There was a lot of gossip about his possible girlfriend going around the school. I was just glad that he finally realised that he was worth much more than what Lily was giving him all those years.

That was also when I noticed that he paid a lot more attention to me. He always sat next to me, he wanted to be partners in every class which made Sirius mad, he helped me with my homework, and he walked me to my classes even when it meant that he would be late to his. It was really weird but I wouldn’t dare to hope he suddenly had a crush on me. I wasn’t stupid.

Until that one fateful night in October when I helped the boys with the prank we planned together. A Ravenclaw prefect was patrolling the corridors. He spotted us near the kitchens and shouted something.

”Run!” Shouted Peter. We all started to run but we were a big group so it would be easy to eventually catch us.

”We need to scatter,” said Remus out of breath. Peter immediately turned the corner and turned into a rat. What a team player.

”(Y/N), here” James took my hand and made me run with him in the opposite direction from Remus and Sirius. He found an empty broom closet and quickly closed the doors behind us. There wasn’t a lot of space so we were very close, our noses were practically touching. James put his fingers on my lips so I was quiet. His other hand was still holding mine and squeezing it reassuringly. After a while, when we were sure the Ravenclaw boy wasn’t coming in this direction, James moved his hand to my waist.

He was staring at me very intensely.

”What?” I whispered to him ”Do I have something on my face? Why are you looking at me like that, Potter?”

”Remember what my dad told you? About my mystery girl?”

”Yeah?” I was confused. Why bringing it up now?

”He was right, you know? It never was Evans. I like her, sure, but as a friend”

”What? Then why were you running after her like a lost puppy all those years?”

”Remember when we first met?”

”Of course, I do, James. I hated you.” He chuckled at that.

”I thought you were a stuck-up rich girl but you proved me wrong, (Y/N). I had this big crush on you in our first year”

I looked at him as if he had three heads. What was he talking about? I put my hand on his forehead to check if he wasn’t sick. He rolled his eyes at me.

”I told Sirius about that. He was my best friend so I thought that he would give me some advice. What I didn’t anticipate though was that he would be overprotective of his sister. He screamed at me almost all night, he said that if I ever try to fancy you again he will personally beat the living shit out of me. I get him, you know? You are his precious little sister…”

”He’s only two minutes and three seconds older”

”…and he wants to protect you from all the bad guys out there even if his best friend is one of them. So I tried to never talk about that again. But Sirius knew. In our third year, he came up with a rule which he then proudly told us about. We are friends and friends don’t fancy each other's siblings. If we ever dare to break the rule, that means we were never friends in the first place. I was scared, you know? I didn’t want to lose both of you so I told him later that he has nothing to worry about because I don’t fancy you anymore, that there is another girl I have my eyes on. He asked me who it was and I panicked. Lily Evans was the first one to come to my mind because you two were always together. So as not to lose my best friend I tried to persuade him that I love Lily Evans”

”You were quite good at that”

”Shut up, Black, I’m not finished. Then you mentioned the conversation with my father and told me to look for someone who deserves me. Love, the problem is I never felt good enough for you but your words made me think. If not now then when? Am I supposed to watch you fall in love with some idiot? Am I supposed to stand in the crowd at your wedding even though I want to be the one waiting at the altar for you? Am I supposed to let the girl of my dreams slip through my fingers because I’m too scared of what my best friend will say about this? You said a lot of nice things about me that night so let me return the favor. You are incredibly smart and witty, (Y/N) Black. I love it when you get so preoccupied with your book that you’re not really paying attention to the world around you. You bite your lip a lot when you’re focused on the books you like. I adore the way you always come up with a sarcastic comment about everything stupid we say. I like to watch you cheer for me and your brother at quidditch matches. I love the way you care for your friends and family, even when some of them obviously don’t deserve that. You are stunning, (Y/N) Black, in and out and I am madly in love with you”

”Remember that one class last year when we were making amortentia? You asked me what I smelled and I didn’t want to tell you”

”I remember”

”That’s because I smelled you and it scared the living shit out of me”

”You smelled me?” James was surprised but he had a small smile on his face.

”Yes” I looked down because I knew I just blushed like crazy and was a little embarrassed about that ”Later on there was this big party after you guys crushed Slytherins at quidditch and Marlene suggested spin the bottle game”

”I really wished that damn bottle would point at me. I might have used a spell to be sure actually”

”You what?”

”That kiss was totally worth it. I still think about it”

”You used magic to kiss me? You’re a fool, James Potter” I laughed a little but couldn’t help myself and grinned happily. ”You didn’t have to do that”

”And why is that?” James smiled at me and let go of my hand. He cupped my cheek instead and waited patiently for my answer. That little bastard. I stared at his lips for longer than I would like to admit it. But, Merlin, how much I wanted to taste those soft lips again, to hear him moan in my mouth.

”Because,” I said getting closer to him. He still looked me in the eyes, our lips brushed when I said the next part ”I am madly in love with you too, James Potter”

He didn’t wait for another second. He pushed his lips against mine and kissed me hard. I put my arms around his neck trying to bring him closer to me. One of his hands wandered behind my back and under my shirt while the other tangled itself in my hair. I bit his lower lip again hoping that I would get the reaction I wanted.

And I did.

He moaned into my lips and put his tongue in my mouth. I remember that at one point we knocked a broom over but we didn’t care much about that.

I felt happy, over the moon happy. James made me feel all of the emotions at once: excitement, love, happiness. I felt as if I was made just for him and he for me. When our lips met it was like fireworks on New Year’s Eve, as cheesy as it sounds. But James Potter made me into one of those giggly girls who wouldn’t shut up about their boyfriends. And the worst part is, I didn’t mind.

When we finally broke apart to get some air, James was grinning like crazy and still holding me close to him. I wondered if he could feel the way my heart was beating so fast.

In that small broom closet, I felt like the luckiest girl in the entire world.

James suddenly became very serious and there was a wrinkle on his forehead as if he was worried about something. He hid his head on my shoulder and hugged me tightly.

”James?”

”Merlin, how am I going to tell that to Padfoot”

”That’s something we should worry about tomorrow”

”Can you kiss it better?”

”You’re not hurt?”

”But I will be tomorrow”

[meepwrites]

I feel like there is a distinct lack of the marauders just, being idiots while at Hogwarts because god help me they were definitely idiots.

Like, they absolutely tried to hide under the marauders map once when it was just hitting past curfew because it was Sirius’s turn to bring the cloak and he forgot the cloak.

And Remus and James were arguing with him because “Dude !” and he got pissed, took the closest object - the map - and exclaimed ‘We can use this !’

This stupidity stunned all of them so much that there was just silent for a solid beat drop until-

Lupin collects the groups braincells,

“We can barely all fit under the cloak at this point you think THAT will hide us, which one of us can eve-“

Peter transforms into Wormtail and goes “squeak squeak !”

and Sirius bursts out laughing so loud remus has to be like “Shut up !”

and he’s like “BUT HE- he- AHAHA.”

and James just, takes the map from moony and throws it at peter and points and Remus is like “Okay fucking point taken one of us can but I want to see you try it James.”

James looks back at Remus like “Touché.” and Remus just snatches the map back from pete like “Turn back wormtail you can’t even move with the map on you.”

and Peter does but then he’s like “actually I do think I have a better chance of getting away like that.” and remus is like “Dude, Mrs.Norris.”

and Peter blanches, remus holds all the braincells truly.

And then after a few more moments of silence,

Sirius is the one who puts up his hand at last and is like

“Do we solemnly agree to fucking bolt back to gryffindor tower.”

And Remus looking frantically at the map and the approaching teachers just growls and goes

“Yeh-“ and in surprise to all of them, fucking takes off immediately around the corner, skidding back to call

“LAST ONE OF YOU THERE GETS DETENTION.”

James catches him saying “god I hope it’s Sirius.’ before he really picks up his sprint again - they all know Moony needs the head start - and sirius is shock rooted onto the spot like “HEY-“

and pete is like “oh no oh no oh no-“

and James is already leaving them like “LATER LOSERS.”

And whoever around the corner, filch or snape if he was a prefect who knows just barely catches sight of Sirius’s face and a pet rat at his feet (Peter has a terrible habit of unwillingly transforming when he gets scared.) before Sirius snatched up the rat and turned running around the corner too, shouting insults and making little squeaky noises respectively.

Aside from the head start, the only reason Remus made it back first AND without anyone seeing is because he took the map, the cheeky boy.

The rest of them were jumping in and out of turns and secret passageways trying to avoid the horrors that are Mister Filch and his cat and several house prefects.

James (to later go with his story when he inevitably ended up in detention)

DID actually run head first into Lily who he swerved around and ran backwards (knocking into a random suit of armour) winking at her “HEY EVANS !”

Regulus fellow prefect got to witness this because he was just going after Evans and James just NEARLY missed bumping directly into him,

Regulus was just blinking and siddling up to Lily murmuring “what was that about.” before Sirius sprinted past him, shouting “OH MY GOSH REGULUS !! I FORGOT YOU GOT A BADGE GOOD LUCK.” and Regukus was just like “and there goes my idiot brother.”

Lily didn’t even look at him to be able to say “Yes this is normal, no they’re not usually screaming and running for their lives but I am surprised about that now this seems fitting.” that was the first time she heard Regulus’s enchanting little chime of a laugh and it made her smile, they continued on their way chatting and wondering where exactly Remus had gotten to.

ALSO HAH,

Regulus is like

“Was my brother carrying a pet rat.

I don’t recall mothe- oh who am I kidding mother would never get him or I a pet rat.”

And Lily is just like

“Oh yeh ! I’ve seen that a couple of times with each of them, I really don’t know where they keep him, they each have an owl, or well I think Pettigrew might have a toad but not a rat.”

they chalk it up as one of those marauder mysteries until they learn abt their animagi forms at which point both Lily and Regukus look at each other and point at Peter like “THE MYSTERY RAT.”

Anyways I bet you 5 galleons Sirius tripped James up btw that’s how he out run him.

OR ACCIOD HIS GLASSES, shouting “SORRY MATE I WILL GIVE THEM BACK.”

and James was like

“??? SIRIUS YOU LITTLE-“

He loves James.

he was however not about to be put into detention by his to be boyfriend screw him.

Remus literally had to go back to collect James bcs bitch can’t see anything and he had to be like “Er no I am not taking back what I said but I am sorry I have to put you into detention with Mcgonagall, better luck next time Prongs.”

Some up late 6th years didn’t even bat an eye anymore when Remus stumbled into the common room supporting James on his shoulder.

Anyway James gets detention, Remus begins to learn the skills of bullshitting with a straight face because Mcgonagall looked him straight in the eye when he brought James to be given said detention and went :

“So you are telling me only Mr. Potter snuck out last night?" "Yes professor." "And none of you accompanied him, and you even gave him detention?" “Uh- yes professor, that is exactly what I did.”

Mcgonagall is pushing her glasses up like

“How odd.”

Remus is sweating like ‘Shite-‘

The only reason Remus even made it out of her class is BECAUSE the one he got in detention was James.

Sirius would gladly drag any of his friends down with him into detention if he could, even Moony.

But James ?

troublemaker as he maybe he’s a bros dude and his greatest strength lies in his love for his friends so the moment he sees Moony flush red in embarrassment under Mcgonagall’s gaze is the moment he immediately, without hesitation decides to lie, voice clear

“No he’s telling the truth professor !”

“Oh ?”

“I was out alone, I was trying to catch a sight of Lily Evans you see, they do prefect duties together.”

He presses on, ignoring Moony’s astonished stare on the back of his head.

“So I thought Remus would do me a favour and help me out but, as you can see, he put his prefect duties above his friendship to me and put me into detention.

Just as you would have wanted him to Professor, so don’t question him.”

And if you imagine James as head boy then this is definitely one of the key moments that lands Mcgonagall choosing him as head boy.

Because he’s lying through his teeth, she knows it but he’s doing it for a friend and it’s the first time she witnessed Mr.Potter in such a light so the moment stuck.

Anyways to round this silliness off :

Sirius makes fun of Remus the moment he’s out of her class and Remus seeing his stupid grin is like “Not a word !!” “awee but Moony aren’t you doing such a good job *silly voice* putting us in our places at long last, Dumbledore would be proud.”

Moony’s just muttering under his fingers, exasperated like “If you don’t shut up Sirius I will put you in your place.” He doesn’t realise that Sirius stopped walking and he nearly walks into a first year by consequences “what ?” “What.”

Teehee.

[slitheringghost]

Could you expand on the James was implied to be abusive?

So, to clarify, everything in this meta isn’t necessarily my interpretation. Some of it is, but some is in fact the opposite of my own interpretation (esp. re: Snape). But I’m going for a Doylist lens for once and trying to unweave what JKR was trying to do. This isn't normally how I analyze the text - but it's helpful to know so people can develop a more informed version of their interpretations.

I think JKR intended Jily as, at best, a dysfunctional marriage where they weren’t truly in love, and at worst, an abusive one. I’ve seen speculations that JKR based James on her abusive ex-husband - I’m not sure where that comes from or is true, it might be entirely made up, but I’m mentioning it here.

1.0 In Photographs

Photographs are regularly used in canon to show family estrangement and rejection, and in this section I'll demonstrate how they're used for the same purpose with James and Lily.

To start off, we see James and Lily in the Mirror of Erised, standing next to each other - but remember what the inscription on the frame means (I show not your face but your heart's desire), and what Dumbledore says:

[...] he noticed that she was crying; smiling, but crying at the same time. The tall, thin, black-haired man standing next to her put his arm around her.

“It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts. [...] However, this mirror will give us neither knowledge or truth. Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or even possible." (PS)

What we'll realize via a close analysis is that the image of James and Lily in the Mirror of Erised standing next to each other is exactly what Dumbledore says - it’s only Harry’s heart’s desire, it isn’t the truth. That Dumbledore’s words about the Mirror not being real isn’t just about James and Lily being dead, but the hidden meaning is that it also refers to James and Lily’s marriage.

Next, we get James and Lily's wedding photo, and in that photo James and Lily are standing arm-in-arm, according to Harry's POV Lily looks "alight with happiness", and Lily's also standing next to Sirius. So temporarily, in that snapshot, the image in the Mirror of Erised seems like it's still the truth.

But then we get to the Order photo in OoTP, the book Harry's meant to shed his idealization of his father:

“That’s Dumbledore’s brother, Aberforth, only time I ever met him, strange bloke... That’s Dorcas Meadowes, Voldemort killed her personally... Sirius, when he still had short hair... and... there you go, thought that would interest you!” Harry’s heart turned over. His mother and father were beaming up at him, sitting on either side of a small, watery-eyed man Harry recognized at once as Wormtail: He was the one who had betrayed their whereabouts to Voldemort and so helped bring about their deaths. (OoTP)

Most notably, James and Lily aren't next to each other, because Wormtail sits between them.

Note that Dumbledore is also standing apart from Elphias Doge and Aberforth, hinting at the way he keeps emotional distance from his friends with the former and family estrangement in the latter, and Remus is similarly standing apart from his friends - and just as important is where Lily is standing. Also note that the other married couple, Alice and Frank, are implied to be standing next to each other.

This is our first clue that what Harry sees in the Mirror of Erised and in the wedding photo is at least a partial lie.

Then, in DH, Lily sends Sirius a picture of herself and Harry - with her husband out of frame, to the point that Harry initially can’t even tell for sure it’s James in that photo:

A black-haired baby was zooming in and out of the picture on a tiny broom, roaring with laughter, and a pair of legs that must have belonged to James was chasing after him […] (DH) Then he ripped in two the photograph he was also holding, so that he kept the part from which Lily laughed, throwing the portion showing James and Harry back onto the floor, under the chest of drawers (DH)

Very like the following quotes and examples:

Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-colored bonnets — but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too. (PS) He couldn’t remember his parents at all. His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house. (PS) A photograph of the Weasley family stood beside the in-tray. Harry noticed that Percy appeared to have walked out of it. (OoTP) The china, which bore the Black crest and motto, was all thrown unceremoniously into a sack by Sirius, and the same fate met a set of old photographs in tarnished silver frames, all of whose occupants squealed shrilly as the glass covering them smashed. he had also managed to retrieve the silver-framed family photographs that Sirius had thrown away over the summer. Their glass might be shattered, but still the little black-and-white people inside them peered haughtily up at him, including — he felt a little jolt in his stomach — the dark, heavy-lidded woman whose trial he had witnessed in Dumbledore’s Pensieve: Bellatrix Lestrange. By the looks of it, hers was Kreacher’s favorite photograph; he had placed it to the fore of all the others (OoTP) The old man’s eyes traveled to the painting of the girl over the mantelpiece. It was, now Harry looked around properly, the only picture in the room. There was no photograph of Albus Dumbledore, nor of anyone else. (DH)

As displayed above, OoTP in particular introduces many estrangements: Percy's from his family, Sirius's from his family, Aberforth making his first appearance and hinting at his conflict with his brother, and of course the continuous emphasis on Petunia's estrangement from Lily, and all of these are emphasized via photographs... as is Jily's estrangement.

The comparison to the Dumbledores is probably the most apt - Aberforth and Albus both talk of Ariana very lovingly while being estranged from each other, similar to how Lily talks of Harry in her letter while there being minimal references to her relationship with James by itself.

Additionally, right before Harry reaches Lily's letter and the photograph with her and Harry, he views the photo of the Marauders on Sirius's bedroom wall and muses on the group's specific dynamics, and then thinks “or was it simply because Harry knew how it had been, that he saw these things in the picture?”

But the thing is, Harry can't see the truth in the picture Lily sends Sirius, that it's a sign of an broken marriage with James - because he doesn't know how it had been with Lily, will never know, and accepting that is meant to be part of his acceptance of death. (Worth noting that JKR wrote HP while her own mother was dying/after her death).

To summarize, Jily get farther and farther away from each other in these snapshots - they go from first standing next to each other, to standing apart in the Order photo, to not standing together again in the photograph Lily sends to Sirius - because James isn't in the photo at all.

Of course, the evidence here is circumstantial - I'm not going to make a judgment on i.e. Sirius and James's closeness by them not standing together in that or the wedding photo (Sirius and Lily standing together in both on the other hand…).

But since James and Lily are explicitly stated as standing next to each other in the Mirror of Erised, and the narrative goes out of its way to point out they aren't standing beside each other in that photograph in the same book you get stuff like "Lily loathed James and maybe James forced her to marry him", I assume it's significant, especially given the Mirror of Erised explicitly comes up several times in OoTP itself:

A great black dragon was rearing in front of him… His father and mother were waving at him out of an enchanted mirror (OoTP) He remembered seeing his dead parents in the Mirror of Erised four years ago. He was going to be able to talk to Sirius again, right now, he knew it — (OoTP)

2.0 Lily as The Golden Snitch

A very, very important point is that James doodling Lily’s initials with the Snitch was never meant to be romantic - because the hidden, true meaning of this is that Lily is represented by the Snitch and James playing with the Snitch represents James and Lily’s relationship:

Harry stared at Wormtail for a moment, then back at James, who was now doodling on a bit of scrap parchment. He had drawn a Snitch and was now tracing the letters L. E. What did they stand for? “Me too,” said James. He put his hand in his pocket and took out a struggling Golden Snitch. “Where’d you get that?” “Nicked it,” said James casually. He started playing with the Snitch, allowing it to fly as much as a foot away and seizing it again; his reflexes were excellent. Wormtail watched him in awe. [...] James was still playing with the Snitch, letting it zoom farther and farther away, almost escaping but always grabbed at the last second. Wormtail was watching him with his mouth open. Every time James made a particularly difficult catch, Wormtail gasped and applauded. After five minutes of this, Harry wondered why James didn’t tell Wormtail to get a grip on himself, but James seemed to be enjoying the attention. Harry noticed his father had a habit of rumpling up his hair as though to make sure it did not get too tidy, and also that he kept looking over at the girls by the water’s edge. “Put that away, will you?” said Sirius finally, as James made a fine catch and Wormtail let out a cheer. “Before Wormtail wets himself from excitement.” Wormtail turned slightly pink but James grinned. “If it bothers you,” he said, stuffing the Snitch back in his pocket. (OoTP)

Lily is the one James “nicked” aka stole, the one struggling against him, the one trying to escape but being grabbed at the last second by James AKA James finally managing to go out with Lily 7th year AKA James making a “particularly difficult catch”.

Lily as symbolized by the Golden Snitch is a really important part of canon that encompasses the whole text, not just SWM, and I promise I have a lot more evidence on that thread, but I'm writing a separate meta regarding that. (For now note that - Lily is the Snitch and Harry is the Seeker, because Lily’s playing hide-and-seek with him throughout the narrative and Harry has to seek her. Try doing Ctrl+ F + Snitch in OoTP and DH and see if you can spot patterns/hidden allusions to Lily).

3.0 My Analysis on SWM

(This section is most directly my personal thoughts)

It starts off with James attacking Snape specifically to get her attention, or at least, that's one of the reasons (“Snape lay panting on the ground. James and Sirius advanced on him, wands up, James glancing over his shoulder at the girls at the water’s edge as he went”). This is already a red flag. To clarify, in the context of the war and the atmosphere at Hogwarts, imo James attacking Snape even when Lily happens to be nearby isn't the issue, but doing something he knows upsets her specifically to get her attention is.

Second, he asks her out publicly, in front of a literal crowd. This is another red flag. This also goes back to him the imagery of him showing off with the Snitch - a.k.a showing off with Lily, liking the attention of others when he tries to "catch" her.

And the biggest red flag - blackmailing her with "I'll stop hurting Snape if you go out with me".

Now, I will say that it's questionable whether he 100% meant it or if it was a spur of the moment thing. I say this because when she says no, in a pretty dramatic and cutting way no less, he doesn't seem upset specifically by that. He just sort of moves on. (What he is upset by and his reaction to it, I'll get to in a bit). That said, if Lily had actually said yes, and they had had sex, that would've been rape.

Whether James asked her out repeatedly / harassed her, idk, I think it could go either way, from Sirius's words and SWM overall it is at least clear James making his interest in her known in showy and obnoxious ways even if he didn't directly ask her out before, despite her making her disinterest in him known just as much. But the way he asked her out in this scene is bad enough, even if it was just once.

Then James continues to call after her despite her speech making it clear she’s very infuriated and very not into him.

Then James doesn’t get why she’s upset at his behavior and goes “what is it with her” (putting the blame on her for her reaction) and then is so enraged by her rejection that he escalates his attack on Snape. This does not have great implications for what he’d do to Lily at other times when she similarly does something he doesn’t like.

As for Lily’s reaction in the scene, I think every word frankly speaks for itself regarding how much she dislikes James.

Lily compares going out with James to dating an animal at the bottom of the lake - this evokes the idea that dating James is equivalent to “drowning in despair”.

Also see how affectionately she talks about Harry's flight vs. the words about James (and this is a particularly sick burn towards James given Lily has been able to fly unsupported since she was 9 years old and Snape can probably fly unsupported by then too - Lily truly does NOT like this man).

“Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you’ve just got off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid Snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can — I’m surprised your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me SICK.” (OoTP) Thank you thank you, for Harry’s birthday present! It was his favorite by far. One year old and already zooming along on a toy broomstick, he looked so pleased with himself, I’m enclosing a picture so you can see. You know it only rises about two feet off the ground, but he nearly killed the cat and he smashed a horrible vase Petunia sent me for Christmas (DH)

“She turned on her heel and hurried away.” - Lily is hurrying away from James, she’s running away from him, she’s the Snitch trying to escape from him.

4.0 Harry's reflections

Harry muses on the Marauders' attack on Snape, and then we have these paragraphs right after it:

Harry reminded himself that Lily had intervened; his mother had been decent, yet the memory of the look on her face as she had shouted at James disturbed him quite as much as anything else. She had clearly loathed James and Harry simply could not understand how they could have ended up married. Once or twice he even wondered whether James had forced her into it... (OoTP)

To reiterate - Harry was just as disturbed by James’s treatment of Lily and Lily’s loathing of him as he was by the extreme violence towards Snape in that scene. The text clearly puts those things on the same level and on par with each other here.

And to reiterate again, JKR… literally had Harry wonder if James FORCED Lily to marry him. There was zero reason for JKR to include this if Jily was ever meant to be read positively. This isn't a "cute hate to love" type of framing, JKR clearly framed Jily as disturbing. The idea of James potentially forcing her, Lily literally saying she wouldn't go out with him if it was a choice between him and the Squid - the language here is consistently of force, of lack of choice.

Then Harry's misery about the violence towards Snape is again linked to his misery about James and Lily:

For nearly five years the thought of his father had been a source of comfort, of inspiration. Whenever someone had told him he was like James he had glowed with pride inside. And now... now he felt cold and miserable at the thought of him. (OoTP) “How come she married him?” Harry asked miserably. “She hated him!” (OoTP)

The descriptions of the struggling Golden Snitch a.k.a. Lily trying to escape from James is also likened to Snape struggling to escape from the Marauders' attack on him:

He put his hand in his pocket and took out a struggling Golden Snitch. Snape was trying to get up, but the jinx was still operating on him; he was struggling, as though bound by invisible ropes. “There you go,” he said, as Snape struggled to his feet again, “you’re lucky Evans was here, Snivellus —” (OoTP)

And another hint JKR might've put in is James greeting them both similarly ("All right, Snivellus?" and "All right, Evans?"). Now, regarding Harry's conversation with Sirius and Remus:

“If we were sometimes arrogant little berks, you mean,” said Sirius. Lupin smiled. "He kept messing up his hair,” said Harry in a pained voice. Sirius and Lupin laughed. “I’d forgotten he used to do that,” said Sirius affectionately. “Was he playing with the Snitch?” said Lupin eagerly. “Yeah,” said Harry, watching uncomprehendingly as Sirius and Lupin beamed reminiscently. “Well... I thought he was a bit of an idiot.” “Of course he was a bit of an idiot!” said Sirius bracingly. “We were all idiots! Well — not Moony so much,” he said fairly (OoTP)

Notice the language here when they talk about James in the memory - Sirius and Remus are smiling, they’re laughing, they’re affectionate, they're speaking of him eagerly, they’re beaming reminiscently - even at the stuff that i.e. Sirius was annoyed by in the actual memory (James showing off with the Snitch, etc). You can even feel the affection in Sirius going "we were all idiots <3”.

But then we get to the topic of James and Lily, and that totally and completely ends:

“And,” said Harry doggedly, determined to say everything that was on his mind now he was here, “he kept looking over at the girls by the lake, hoping they were watching him!” “Oh, well, he always made a fool of himself whenever Lily was around,” said Sirius, shrugging. “He couldn’t stop himself showing off whenever he got near her.” “How come she married him?” Harry asked miserably. “She hated him!” “Nah, she didn’t,” said Sirius. “She started going out with him in seventh year,” said Lupin. “Once James had deflated his head a bit,” said Sirius. “And stopped hexing people just for the fun of it,” said Lupin. (OoTP)

They are not effusive at all. Sirius in fact sounds just as unimpressed and critical of James as he sounded in the actual memory. (“Bad luck, Prongs”, “Reading between the lines, I’d say she thinks you’re a bit conceited, mate”, the double meaning of Sirius telling James to put the Snitch away).

Sirius emphasizes James showing off for Lily and trying to get her attention and "making a fool of himself" (again, not positive wording), and it’s only when Harry brings up Lily seeming to hate him that Lily’s feelings are addressed at all, and all Sirius says is “nah she didn’t hate him”, never saying she liked or loved him and painting it as very one-sided.

This text uses the word “love” very, very intentionally - and it’s never once used for Lily’s feelings towards James (or even vice versa, frankly).

And in this conversation, the emphasis here quickly goes to the fact that James broke his promise to Lily (sort of evoking a broken wedding vow, etc):

“You think you’re funny,” she said coldly. “But you’re just an arrogant, bullying toerag, Potter. Leave him alone.” “I will if you go out with me, Evans,” said James quickly. “Go on... Go out with me, and I’ll never lay a wand on old Snivelly again.” (OoTP) “Even Snape?” said Harry. “Well,” said Lupin slowly, “Snape was a special case. I mean, he never lost an opportunity to curse James, so you couldn’t really expect James to take that lying down, could you?” “And my mum was okay with that?” “She didn’t know too much about it, to tell you the truth,” said Sirius. “I mean, James didn’t take Snape on dates with her and jinx him in front of her, did he?” (OoTP)

Again the language here, it's clearly making an intentional reference to James's "promise/agreement" to never attack Snape if Lily goes out on a date with him.

This is likened to Voldemort's broken promise to Lily - Lily says "Leave him alone" three times before James says "I will if you go out with me", just as Lily offers her own life for Harry's three times (take me, kill me instead, I'll do anything) and says Not Harry seven times and Voldemort seals the agreement by taking Lily’s life, and then “breaks that promise” whenever he tries to kill Harry (Voldemort's broken promise to Lily is brought up many times specifically in OoTP in coded language, part of why the parallel seems intentional, but I’ll get to that in other metas).

To clarify, I don’t think James did anything wrong there - certainly by 7th year Snape would’ve been a marked Death Eater who already murdered people, I’m just pointing out what the text is trying to do here.

5.0 Some comparisons

5.1 Wearing masks with each other

It's emphasized that Sirius is the one James stops showing off for, not Lily, and that James's hair is different and voice is different when he speaks to Lily - basically, that James is wearing a mask with Lily:

Harry had the distinct impression that Sirius was the only one for whom James would have stopped showing off. “Leave him ALONE!” James and Sirius looked around. James’s free hand jumped to his hair again. “All right, Evans?” said James, and the tone of his voice was suddenly pleasant, deeper, more mature. (OoTP)

Again, none of this is positive framing for Jily. In comparison, in the Prince's Tale we have Snape taking off his long coat and is comfortable wearing his mother's clothes in front of Lily. In other words, unlike James who puts on a mask with her, Snape is taking the mask off with Lily.

And as James wears a mask with Lily, Lily wears a mask with him, because in the death scene memory, her face is covered by her long hair while she speaks to James, vs. the Lily from the Resurrection Stone who pushes her hair back to look at Harry.

This is Lily setting the terms of who is and isn't allowed to see her - because similarly, she's letting Sirius see her face (I'm enclosing a picture so you can see - the picture which not only includes Harry but also Lily herself laughing), she's repeatedly described as smiling at Snape, and of course she's letting Harry see her face, yet with James, we have these passages:

“Evans!” James shouted after her, “Hey, EVANS!” But she didn’t look back. (OoTP) his mother had been decent, yet the memory of the look on her face as she had shouted at James disturbed him quite as much as anything else (OoTP) A door opened and the mother entered, saying words he could not hear, her long dark-red hair falling over her face. Now the father scooped up the son and handed him to the mother. (DH)

In direct contrast to:

Harry heard Snape let out a tiny groan. Lily took off the hat, handed it back to Professor McGonagall, then hurried toward the cheering Gryffindors, but as she went she glanced back at Snape, and there was a sad little smile on her face. (DH) “Your mother’s coming…” he said quietly. “She wants to see you… it will be all right… hold on…” (GoF) One year old and already zooming along on a toy broomstick, he looked so pleased with himself, I’m enclosing a picture so you can see. (DH) but we've had to pack away all the ornaments and make sure we don't take our eyes off him when he gets going. (DH) Lily’s smile was widest of all. She pushed her long hair back as she drew close to him, and her green eyes, so like his, searched his face hungrily, as though she would never be able to look at him enough. (DH)

This is especially notable given the obvious significance of Lily's eyes and Lily's gaze as a "window to her soul" and most reflective of her true emotions.

This is echoed in the only true James and Lily emphasis in The Prince’s Tale being that of James not paying attention to Lily:

One of the boys sharing the compartment, who had shown no interest at all in Lily or Snape until that point, looked around at the word, and Harry, whose attention had been focused entirely on the two beside the window, saw his father (DH)

Again, James is 11, this is totally understandable and in fact it’d be weird if he was interested in Lily since he was 11, but I’m just pointing out how the language around James and Lily is consistently negative.

5.2 The Bloody Baron

“She sent a man who had long loved me, though I spurned his advances, to find me. She knew that he would not rest until he had done so." Harry waited. She drew a deep breath and threw back her head. “He tracked me to the forest where I was hiding. When I refused to return with him, he became violent. The Baron was always a hot-tempered man. Furious at my refusal, jealous of my freedom, he stabbed me.” (DH) “What is it with her?” said James, trying and failing to look as though this was a throwaway question of no real importance to him. “Reading between the lines, I’d say she thinks you’re a bit conceited, mate,” said Sirius. “Right,” said James, who looked furious now, “right —” There was another flash of light, and Snape was once again hanging upside down in the air. “Who wants to see me take off Snivelly’s pants?” (OoTP)

A note on patronuses and extracanon statements

I'm aware JKR has said Lily was attracted to James in SWM in extracanon, and has framed Jily's patronuses positively in relation to each other. However, these statements was years after the books were published - and it's clear JKR often changes her opinions about her characters and dynamics very often i.e. the way she framed Ron and Sirius in the early books vs the later books, so it's likely something similar happened with Jily in the other direction.

In the actual books, the doe patronus is only ever shown and discussed to emphasize Snape and Lily’s bond, it’s never discussed in relation to James and Lily. The stag patronus is firmly about Harry’s connection with his father.

As for the argument that Lily noticing James showing off with the Snitch signifies she’s into him - if some boy is constantly trying to get your attention and being obnoxious about it, you’d be hyper aware of his presence regardless if you were attracted to him. Snape is also hyper aware of the Marauders, Sirius was likewise watching Snape, etc. There is, of course the blush in her conversation with Snape - I'll get to that in a separate meta.

This is another meta about Jily as potentially abusive, I don’t agree with all of it but it’s worth reading.

[saintsenara]

All Lupin ships:

Remadora

Wolfstar

Snupin

thank you very much for the ask, anon - and yes, i'd say that's the order i'd rank them in too...

remadora

i've spoken about this one here.

wolfstar

here.

snupin

i have read and enjoyed some snupin, but i certainly wouldn't go so far as to say it was a fave of mine.

and the reason for this is that i find that it so frequently misrepresents snape and lupin's dynamic - turning the fact that lupin canonically stays away from the more egregious bullying the marauders do against snape and canonically defends dumbledore's trust in him into evidence that he likes or respects snape, but was simply unable to restrain james and sirius' hatred of him while they were at school [something he regrets as an adult].

while this gets a couple of things right about lupin as a character - that he cannot bear to be the bad guy; that he is unfailingly loyal to dumbledore - it fails to showcase others, especially the fact that he has just as much capacity for cruelty as the other marauders [this is a man who's ready to murder wormtail in cold blood in front of three children literally seconds after learning he's still alive] but that the mask of meek affability he has created for himself hides this much better than james and sirius' "what you see is what you get" personalities.

and it therefore also fails to engage with the fact that snape is canonically terrified of lupin. i seem to see a lot in snupin the idea that snape is so rude to him - especially in prisoner of azkaban - because he doesn't want to acknowledge his feelings or let anyone close enough to see the real him, and while - yes - that's a way of behaving that suits snape to a tee, it's clear in the canon text that snape's treatment of lupin is actually caused by his belief that lupin was both in on the scheme to lure him to the shrieking shack and that lupin is aiding and abetting the man who killed lily in his attempt to kill harry. and it's also clear that lupin really quite enjoys the fact that snape is scared of him - and that he goes out of his way to engineer situations where he can needle snape and revel in his response.

[and it's also clear that when snape has more of a... vibe with someone, he's happy to get in their face. him coming round to grimmauld place to neg sirius about having to do housework and hide is very much giving "i love you"...]

and so i think you can just do something so toxic with snupin's canon dynamic - with snape being, essentially, hunted by lupin. you can have it be really messy, with a really interesting power-dynamic. you can have both men refusing to be honest about themselves and their history, even as it destroys the connection they've forged. you can even untangle years of resentment and tension and have it turn into something real.

and i much prefer those scenarios to remus being sweet and just wanting snape to share his chocolate.

[albi-bumblebee]

James Potter headcanons

(These jump around time periods a lot💀)

Mama's boy

Also has the kind of "football player" energy that many mothers find attractive

His parents were always very affectionate with him and he carried that with him to school. He's always touching his friends, but especially Sirius(who didn't know how to react at first bcuz he's vvv touch starved)

Is Romani

His parents only speak Romanes when they’re at home so he’s fluent

He’s a major capital S SIMP for both Lily and Sirius

He's always doodling Lily's name on his papers, making little drawings of her, probably wrote some bad poetry like Ginny wrote for Harry, etc

He is blushing kicking his feet twirling his hair whenever Sirius gives a particularly detailed answer to a teacher's question, he writes angsty letters when they're separated for the summer, whenever Sirius is even slightly bored he will do anything to remedy it (including humiliating their classmates)(to be clear Sirius is also pining over him he's just more subtle)

James was the one who first suggested them making two-way mirrors but Sirius did more of the actual magic because he's better at charms

Whilst James was the leader of the Animagus project because he's best at transfiguration in their group(and also in the school year but i digress)

Is still lowkey a sadist even after he stops bullying Snape

Has Wormtail just chilling in his pocket most of the time

Weirdly good at muggle math

Isn't exactly good at cooking but Lily is worse so he usually ended up making food when they were in hiding with Harry

Owns a "world's bestest dad" mug and would own a “Woman want me, Fish fear me” hat if he was alive during the 2020s

Bisexual and in the seventh circle of denial hell

Had a hero complex from ages 11 to 16

Started to mature after Sirius ran away to his house

Rock Collector!

Is still shit at potions despite his Dati’s(and later Lily’s) various attempts at tutoring him

He and Lily share the same sense of humor(even if she’ll deny it to her death)

Wears a lot of olive green because he knows it’s Lily’s favorite color

Bounces Quidditch strategy off Remus(Sirius hates Quidditch)

Did in fact smoke during his seventh year and into his first year in the Order but Lily convinced him to stop after she got pregnant

and that’s all i can think of rn i may add onto this later

[seriousbrat]

some thoughts on Snape and James

Dumbledore explains this to Harry after we've just found out how exactly James saved Severus, and I think that's important. As we know, his prediction about Wormtail came true in DH. Severus believed that James had just done it to save his friends from expulsion, but I don't think this is true, I think it's a product of his (understandable) bias towards James. Dumbledore (whatever his faults) is generally a very good judge of character in his later life:

He accepts Sirius's story in PoA without proof because it simply makes more sense to him given what he knows about the characters involved. He accepts Sev's claim that he wants to protect Lily when it could be a trick, as Sev is very good at Occlumency. He knows Draco won't be capable of murdering him. He knows exactly the ways that each member of the trio will act in their search for the Hallows.

So I think it's fair to say that Dumbledore knew that James was NOT just risking his life out of selfish reasons. I think this is a big reason Dumbledore holds James in such high esteem. Even at his worst, James wasn't willing to let his enemy die. Therefore the same bond that exists between Pettigrew and Harry also exists between Sev and James. They'd probably be as happy about that as Harry is about Pettigrew, but, to paraphrase Dumbledore, too bad lol. Anyway:

So where does this bond come in for Snape and James? Imo, it's in Severus dedicating his life to protect James Potter's son. Yes, he did it for Lily. But I also think the bond had something to do with it. Possibly if he had just been in love with Lily that wouldn't have been strong enough, he could have just retreated into the shadows to mourn her. Maybe he wouldn't have, but imo it's a factor as well, whether he's aware of it or not. (probably not) And also somewhat a factor in why he agrees pretty quickly to hiding all the Potters, not just Lily.

This is my hc but I think Snape, despite his hatred for James, despite what James put him through, almost kind of ... trusted him to keep Lily safe when they went their separate ways after school. He knows firsthand that James is a capable duellist, and there's almost this sort of... seething respect there going both ways idk. I absolutely think Severus blamed James for not living up to this, first by knocking her up lol and then by failing to protect her the night of her death. ALTHOUGH I think he would have, in his own way, grudgingly respected the bravery of James facing Voldemort without his wand so Lily could escape, had he known about it, because imo Severus would have done the same, both men would knowingly lay down their life for Lily.

With the war and the end of school, things are shifting between them. Both have chosen opposite sides of the conflict. They've grown up, and Sev is now able to give as good as he gets. (none of this is excusing James's bullying btw I don't believe in that) but I think they leave school on more equal footing than they've ever had. Out in the real world, popularity and being a quidditch star and whatever don't matter. It's gone, and there's just the war.

I think Sev's relationship with James is very different than it is with Sirius. With Sirius they never really grow out of that schoolboy hatred, and both of them would happily see each other drop dead without blinking an eye. With James I think it's much more complex. His hatred for James is deeply uniquely personal and completely colours the way he treats Harry. Like the real rivalry is between James and Snape, Sirius is just sort of an add-on to this. Snape brings up James constantly, like bro is a little obsessed but whatever. The bond, to Sev's eternal frustration, is always there.

I've said this before but my personal opinion is that James would have forgiven Sev had he known about everything he did to protect Harry. I don't think they'd ever have been friends lol but unlike Sirius (and Remus imo) I think James would have respected him for it, for his bravery. For doing exactly as he would have if their places had been reversed (that would be an interesting fic tbh I'm sure someone's done that)

I'll sort of bring this up in my own fic in one of my fave scenes I've written between them:

“Just—” Sev stops, unable to force the words out, so sickened is he by the thought of what he has to say. “Just what?” Potter says coldly. “Just— keep her safe.” A flicker of surprise passes over Potter’s face, but it quickly pulls back into a frown. He nods, tightly. “And you. You stay away from her. You know what they are. You know what they’ll do to her.” It costs him everything he has, but, finally, Severus jerks his head.

Anyway I find their dynamic super interesting, as they are both two of my favourite characters. Obviously James bullying Sev is totally unjustified, as is Sev bullying his son years later (clearly as revenge, now that he finally finds himself with the upper hand). They're compared to Draco and Harry a few times I think, and I think Harry doesn't see this because he wrongly identifies as his father when actually his role was much more like Snape's in this dynamic, which is what he sees in SWM. A lot of jealousy going both ways, but one of them (at first) clearly has more privilege and is much more vindictive and cruel to the other. Draco and Harry nodding at each other on the platform is on some level representative of the "moving on" that Severus and James never achieved.

[roalinda]

you reminded me - how it slays me actually that in swm James stopped showing off with snitch for Sirius, but he didn't stop harassing Snape for Lily. Different scales, yes, and yet. Sirius had quite a character in his youth, and James seemed to value and thrieve in this part, too - mean, arrogant. And it's not like Sirius minded James' faults like showing off - when he told James to put snitch away, it was not [stop because you irritate me], it was [stop because Wormtail' reaction irritates me].

SWM is probably one of my most favourite chapters in the whole HP series. Not just because it stars James and Sirius in their teenage days, but also because it shows the darker parts of their personality ( specially James' ), a neat contrast to Harry's usual hero worship for his father. I think this scene is what makes the reader appreciate James as a great character later, the way he matured and lived and sacrificed. (but this is completely another discussion ) 

You are completely right anon, Sirius was mean and arrogant and so was James. They were two parts of a whole, working together like a tandem, dysfunctional without each other. They were too similar yet different and that was their glue, their magnetic gravity. We have three books (POA, GOF, OOTP) to see Sirius' arrogance ( or at least traces of it ), but for James we only have less than ten pages. 

Here:

Sirius stared around at the students milling over the grass, looking rather haughty and bored, but very handsomely so. ( HP and OOTP, chapter twenty eight , page 644 )

"Reading between the lines, I'd say she thinks you are a bit conceited, mate (James)," said Sirius. (HP and OOTP, chapter twenty-eight, page 649)

Obviously, James had been called arrogant in this chapter a lot by both Lily and Snape, but I quoted Sirius on purpose because here he shows/says:

Yes, Lily sees James as an arrogant toerag, so he should not delude himself with the fact the she doesn't. ( right now)

He himself doesn't care about James' arrogance. (He said that about Lily, he never said I think you are too arrogant as well) 

He said - a bit conceited - , both to sweeten the rejection for James and to insert a bit of sarcasm. 

James had started it all to liven up Sirius as he himself put it. I am not discussing the morality of the situation here because it is not relevant to this talk. He wanted to entertain Sirius. He wanted to show off in front of Sirius, not the girls around the lake or Lily at that moment. He wanted to show off in a way that Sirius can be indulged in as well, and not to be irritated by James' actions, be it straight from him playing with the Snitch or Peter's extreme excitement. True, he enjoyed the attention of the crowd, it is a part of his character, but at that moment it was Sirius' attention he was seeking. Sirius was easily irritated by Peter and was brilliant enough to ignore Remus when he suggested to test him for Transfiguration, so naturally it was James whom he indirectly seek entertainment from. He doesn't mention it or anything, he just says I am bored and James jumps and practically is, Yessir, yes, your majesty, your wish is my command, let me indulge and entertain you. ���

That's the simplest approach to SWM. Sirius and James didn't care for anything as long as the other was satisfied. 

This doesn't go for Lily, even after James started dating her. James never stopped hexing Snape 🤺 , because Snape also never missed an opportunity to curse him back. 🤺 Yes, it's only one person whom he has a bad history with but the point is he does not change his ways for Lily completely if he doesn't see it fit.

He also is clearly triggered after Sirius tells him that Lily thinks he is conceited (which results in the line below), because arrogance and pride is a part of him, a part that can be either pleasant or unpleasant, depending on who is he interacting with. 

"Right," said James, who looked furious now, "right —" (HP and OOTP, chapter twenty-eight, page 649) 

This is the difference between Lily and Sirius and the types of showing off James has for them. Sirius has James on leash, be it in a positive or negative way. He says start, James starts. He says stop, James stops. This does not go for Lily. James even told her - don't make me hex you - , although it was earnest and in good humour. But let's face it, he would never say this to Sirius in a situation like that.

Sirius is fond of James as well and never minded his faults as you rightfully put it. He was fond of his arrogance and idiocy as he later told Harry. (by idiocy I don't mean the incapability of achieving brilliant magical performances and academics, I mean the way he was a jerk) 

There is a reason Sirius and James are soul mates. It is not just because they adored each other and were Quite the double act, it was also because they had accepted and were not trying to change each other. They loved each other's faults in an exclusive private way, never ashamed or worried about social etiquette in each other's company.

Gods, sorry for the long rant 🙈 thank you for the ask.

[xixiao-yankai]

Unpopular opinion time. HP ships that I can't stand.

Draco x Harry

Draco is obsessed with Harry because he is an entitled little twit who is jealous of Harry's popularity outshining him. Harry only saved Draco's life because that was the righteous thing to do. Heck, Harry even offered Voldemort one final chance at remorse. Do we hear Draco say thanks to Harry even once? And yes, I also think the Scorpius x Albus ship is basically another LOL attempt at shipping "Drarry".

Draco x Hermione

Is it only because Draco's and Hermione's movie actors were good-looking? Draco had pathetic emotional intelligence. No wisdom. No compassion. And still doesn't forget to call Hermione a Mudblood even on the Astronomy Tower. How much do people have to hate Hermione to think that she deserves a laughing stock of a character such as Malfoy?

Harry x Hermione

Their personalities are both too fiery. Both are headstrong and opinionated and if they were to live together in marriage, they'd blow the roof off the house.

Remus x Sirius

Sirius saying that he was bored and wished it was the full moon, and sending Snape down the tunnel when Remus was transformed... don't exactly scream "I love Remus more than anyone". It's just that with James gone, Sirius and Remus only had each other left. Doesn't mean anything beyond friendship. Highlighted by how Remus embraced Sirius "like a brother" in the Shrieking Shack.

Snape x Lily

Every meeting with Lily in Snape's memories ended badly. I really cannot fathom how Lily managed to put up with a dementor like Snape for seven years. I respect Snape, don't get me wrong, but respect is not mutually exclusive with dislike. Snape saw Lily as the only light in his cold, dark existence, but Lily is a person. Not an object for Snape to draw warmth from. I don't deny that Snape loved Lily, but that love is not love that Lily would appreciate. And the thing that disgusts me the most is how Snape grieved Lily's death as if it were his loss, and not hers.

Snape x Harry

Snape never cared about Harry. NEVER. What do you think he would have done to Harry if Harry were not Lily's son and only James's son? Wouldn't be surprised if he treated Harry like he treated Wormtail. Or like how Marvolo and Morfin treated Merope. And even if Harry didn't hate Snape anymore, he probably still intensely disliked him for all the bullying he endured.

Snape x Narcissa

Please! Why would anyone ruin their characters like this? The scene at Spinner's End shows the true extent of Snape's intelligence and capability as a double agent, and shows how Narcissa was willing to kneel down in front of a half-blood to beg for her son's safety. Nothing. Else. Don't. Extrapolate.

James x Regulus

What? Where did this even come from? If anything, Regulus probably hated James for stealing Sirius away from him and his family. And James despised pure-blood supremacy and the Dark Arts, and would likely only be cordial to Regulus, if they crossed paths, out of respect for Sirius. On a side note, now I'm wondering... if Sirius had to choose between saving James's or Regulus's life, how would he have chosen?

I guess Sirius would have sacrificed himself to save both his brothers, of course.

EDIT: removed "pro" tags and added "anti-" tags. Thanks to everyone who either politely or rudely pointed out a new Tumblr's mistake!

[qu1cks1lversb1tch]

Some of my Marauders era/Harry Potter Headcanons

Professor McGonagall was considered a patient teacher until the Prewett twins and the Marauders, so when the Weasley twins and Prongslet started Hogwarts, she just knew it would be a chaotic repeat of events.

"Well, thank you for that assessment, Mr Weasley. Perhaps it would be more useful if I were to transfigure Mr Potter and yourself into a pocket watch? That way, one of you might be on time."

Of course, we can't forget Ron. He was just as much Gideon and Fabian as Fred and George, but to a lesser degree.

He's brilliant and gets a lot of hate for always making Hermione cry (which im totally not ignoring)

Ron is an important part of the trio, even if the movies do kinda portray him as a replaceable, dickish, himbo, carrot top cunt, who purposely hurts Hermione.

THAT'S OUR FOODIE GINGER SNAP BABY RONALD, OKAY!?!?!???

We respect him in this household, even if we sometimes wanna kick his ass so hard he begins to think he's Viktor Krum.

REMUS LUPIN FOLDS HIS SOCKS

He did it as a child and a teenager, but he carried the habit into his adult life. It made him feel in control of something in his life.

James was Sirius's first kiss

Sirius was James's first kiss

Strictly platonic first kiss between a couple of bro's

It happened second year.

"Its not gay, Wormtail, we had socks on."

Peter was terrified of rats before he discovered his animagus was a rat

If Regulus Black was an animagus, he'd be a black cat, for obvious reasons

Speaking of Regulus Arcturus Black, we stan that dramatic emo bitch in this household <3

He was just like Sirius, but in his own way and he catches so much shit because he was a death eater and did bad things.

Before he was marked, he was a boy who wanted to make his family proud. After he was marked, he wanted to escape.

He defected to the good side, but he died before Sirius could know the good thing he had began. He was just a boy.

Draco heard stories from his mother about Regulus and based many of his best traits after his cousin.

He treated house elves with respect, mostly when Lucius wasn't around to influence him. When he had nothing to prove.

He didn't care if they were like Dobby or Kreacher

He simultaneously hated his father and wanted him to be proud, so he took the dark mark at sixteen

Much like Regulus did

He also wanted to defect. He didn't want to be a killer. He didn't want to die.

He was just a boy.

Hermione carried on the soul of Regulus

I will die on that hill.

She was born a few months after he died and they were very similar, except for the obvious differences (blood status, house, family life, you get the gist)

We all know about S.P.E.W.

Regulus would've been the FIRST official member if he had been alive

Lily introduced her pureblood friends to muggle fashion

In fifth year when she saw James in a pair of tight pants, she almost fell out right in the middle of Hogsmeade

After that, she forbade Sirius from letting James borrow his clothes ever again

For self-preservation purposes, I like to pretend THE prank never happened. If you know, you know. If you don't, I can't explain or I'll cry

Marlene McKinnon = blonde Sirius with boobs

Hermione, Remus, and Lily are the voices of reason amongst their friends, while also being just as bad as them in a more subtle way

"Now, if you two don't mind, I’m going to bed before either of you come up with another clever idea to get us killed or worse. . . Expelled!"

BUT ALSO

Snape on fire ring any bells?

I just know James was sitting in the clouds, laughing his ass off while Lily told him to hush

She was also fighting laughter

Revenge often came in the form of a brilliant muggleborn witch

Sirius craves violence. . . And chaos

He would love when witches or wizards got mad, especially at him.

That shit turned him on faster than Remus fresh out of the shower

Sirius and Marlene yelled at eachother like siblings

Meanwhile Remus and Lily were sipping tea like some high society in-laws at Sunday brunch

Sirius LOVED Abba, but refused to admit it, even after Lily caught him singing 'Mamma Mia' under his breath. . . In the middle of class.

I SWEAR I had a point to this. I started writing HCs and then I started rambling??? I could ramble forever, honestly.

Send requests, I have some free time

Let me know if you want to be put on the tag list :)

It's currently empty, so it sure would be cool if I could make a list :)

[sarcasticsoup]

was curious what the Marauders were and.

huh.

honestly I've never read or even SEEN HP so idk what's going on

**massive harry potter spoilers ahead**

hello! sorry this took me so long i went to answer you and then completely forgot to post it. also i may over/under explain things, idk how much of the series you know so sorry about that.

also this is really long, theres a tldr at the end if you want

basically in the books theyre mainly only mentioned through Snape's eyes (and snape is a racist terrorist who created torture spells - dont listen to snape stans they havent read the books) so the marauders are presented as "bullies" that used to hex people for fun.

ill admit, james potter (harrys dad) wasnt a great guy when he was younger and did take it out on snape a bit, but we're only really given the worst bits, and obviously snapes memory will have exaggerated it a bit.

the marauders were james potter, sirius black (harrys godfather), remus lupin (harrys 3rd year defence against the dark arts professor) and peter pettigrew (a traitor prick).

Voldemort (aka Tom Riddle) leads the Death Eaters, a terrorist group based around blood supremacy (hating wizards that have non-magical/muggle family members, especially parents, and arent 'pureblood' wizards), and the marauders and their friends joined the original Order of the Phoenix, lead by Dumbledore (hogwarts headmaster) against the death eaters in the first Wizarding War. Snape was a death eater, but later joined the Order as a spy for Dumbledore.

Regulus Black, Sirius' younger brother, gave up his life to help take down Voldemort, by stealing one of his horcruxes (an item that contained part of voldemorts soul, keeping him immortal) and as a fandom, we generally bloody love reg.

**this is where the spoilers start**

Peter Pettigrew, who was Wormtail in the Marauders due to his animagus (animal you can turn in to) being a rat, was part of the Order but also secretly was working as a Death Eater spy for Voldemort. As a fandom, we generally hate the bastard and wish he died sooner.

There was a prophecy made about Voldemorts death, that seemed like it was about James' son Harry. so James, Harry, and harrys mum Lily went into hiding to protect themselves.

(its worth mentioning that Lily was muggleborn - her parents werent magic - and snape had ended their 'friendship' while they were attending hogwarts by joining the death eaters, terrorising other muggleborns and then calling lily a slur. he claimed that he loved her and its supposed to be his turning point that he reveals he was secretly good bc he loved lily, but he didnt he was creepily obsessed with her. again, dont listen to the Snape stans)

lily and james made pettigrew their secret keeper, meaning peter was the only person who could tell people where they were, and peter told voldemort

voldy then came to their house, killed james and then asked lily to move out of his way (Snape had made him promise not to kill her, snape didnt give a fuck about james or harry though). lily didnt move, and sacrificed herself to protect her son. this act meant that when voldy tried to kill harry, the spell backfired, killing voldy instead of harry, and accidentally created another horcrux inside of harry. harry had a piece of voldemorts soul inside of him.

anyways harry goes to live with lily's sister and her family, and theyre incredibly abusive, and then the first book starts when harry is 11 and gets accepted into hogwarts, finding out that he's a wizard and all of the horrid shit that happened to his parents. snape hates him because harry looks exactly like james did and reminds him of lily.

sorry this was so long

tldr; we mainly see the marauders through the eyes of the terrorist group that they fought, so they look like 'bullies' but actually snape was a prick. the fandom is composed of people who know this, and most of the canon isnt relevant to us.

thanks for giving me the opportunity to write this, i enjoyed explaining it far too much :)

[sxnshxnxxnddxxsxxs-fics]

And your heat, love // has such darkness

desert island discs: man down

here’s the playlist

this song is so sirius black it’s not even funny

the song is literally about being hotheaded and not thinking about the consequences of your actions.

and a key part of sirius’ character in canon especially when he’s young is that he doesn’t regret his actions themselves he regret the consequences that occur that he didn’t have the forethought to predict. (re: the prank, sirius’ emotional turmoil here isn’t that he almost caused snape’s death, it’s the consequences it would have had for remus (which i personally don’t think he ever truly conceptualises the full extent of before his death in canon- but that’s just my opinion))

so much of this song is denial “i didn’t mean to hurt him” and that really speaks to sirius’ character because it’s a way of life for his family to think through every single consequence of every single action. to play life like a game of chess, every action is taken with explicit purpose. and it’s a big thing for sirius to oppose his family in every way he conceivably can both to his benefit and his detriment. and this is an example of it being to his detriment because sirius co-signs his own hotheadedness by viewing it as proof that he’s not like his family. but that leads to him just not thinking things through and doing things he comes to regret (like going after wormtail in 1981) so ultimately he fucks himself over. he has an idea, doesn’t think it through, does it, comes face to face with the consequences of his actions, says i didn’t mean for this to happen, and ultimately suffers for it.

i think this song can also be seen as sirius talking about himself, in terms of it being a metaphor for how he shoots himself in the foot and ultimately brings himself down for it. in this vein this song would definitely be about making wormtail secret keeper and going after him when james and lily die which ends up with him in azkaban.

also the fact that so much of this song is begging to “mama” for absolution only to get no response. well that just really encapsulates sirius’ mummy issues. because while walburga is an abusive mother sirius clings onto her image very tightly he is entirely incapable of letting go of his mother for his entire life. so whether it’s interpreted as sirius actually begging walburga for forgiveness and her just straight knowingly ignoring him. or sirius begging to the air wishing it was his mother but unable to get to her because he left home and tried to rid himself of any connection to her.

[casurlaub]

I fully agree with your conclusion, and I want to point out that I'm not trying to make excuses for him. Also, I was not trying to compare what he did to what James and Sirius did - it's incomparable. Period. It's not about blame/responsibility, I was just trying to understand (not sympathize).

It's just my perspective, and I'm (deliberately) playing devil's advocate here:

I'm not sure how it started. I think it's a 'chicken or egg dilemma'. Did Peter start the hero-worshipping first, or did they start being condescending to him, and then he started his hero-worshipping because he wanted to save himself from being the target of their bullying?

Honestly and personally, I think James and Sirius didn't have much respect for anyone during their school days except one another, Lily (James, at least later), and - to some extent - Remus ('you made us feel ashamed of ourselves sometimes… that was something'). So, yes, I would say they would definitely treat him like they did at random. They were not only indulging his hero-worshipping; they were buying into their whole dynamic with their own behavior, by belittling him ('how thick are you, Wormtail' / 'Put that away, will you, before Wormtail wets himself with excitement.'). So they were basically cementing this 'you are down there and we are up here'-thing. It wasn't just Peter doing it, and them getting off on it. It was them participating, it was two-sided, and honestly, I'm not sure who started it. Because we know James and Sirius did not only bully Snape. They hexed people at random - just because they could and because they felt like it. To me, it's no stretch to think that Peter feared to 'end' like that too, and that he drew the wrong conclusion and started his bootlicking as some means of self-preservation.

As you said, we only get that one scene in canon; we don't know what happened before fifth year. The author stated James/Sirius only befriended Peter because of Remus, which leads me to believe that they weren't too fond of him/too interested in him to begin with. James and Sirius - both super confident (or at least appearing to be), both incredibly smart, both immediately good at everything, 'the 'height of cool'. I think that was quite intimidating from Peter's perspective. And Remus, too, must have been above average, I think. At least as an adult (because apart from Dumbledore, he's the only one who gets out of the battle in the Department of Mysteries unscathed).

And Peter was not. Peter wasn't attractive, Peter wasn't suave, Peter wasn't talented. Peter was basically nothing. He only had his friends; that was all there was to him (and maybe he always felt a little left out, even from Remus's side - in PoA, Remus implies that he doesn't think Sirius 'deserves' his soul to be sucked out, but later he has no qualms whatsoever to immediately murder Peter when he learns the truth). But Peter was emotionally intelligent. He has to have been - being the spy for months and playing them all (Dumbledore and his closest friends) like that. So when they said they would join the Order, he - correctly - estimated that, should he refuse to join too, he would probably lose his friends. And he only defined himself through others (first the Marauders, later Voldemort), so that wasn't an option.

But I wasn't trying to relocate the blame here, really. I'm fully with you. The blame is on Peter and Peter alone. He was an adult and as an adult he's responsible for what he did. You can not hide behind your shitty childhood or behind your friends being mean to you or whatever. Of course. It's ludicrous to compare a mean remark (or hundred mean remarks) with selling out your friends' lives (and their son's life). I was just trying to say that the whole thing wasn't as surprising if you think about it (in hindsight, Sirius draws that conclusion himself, says he should've seen it). It's not about having sympathy for Peter. I don't. Sirius is my favorite character.

'The marauders didn't pay for anything, if that's Peter's treatment of ppl who wud literally die for him u already know tht nothing else could have gotten him to value anyone or choose better.!'

Not at this point, I agree! But no person ever is solely good or solely evil, and no one is born this or that way. It's not set in stone from the beginning. People are complex, people are influenced by what happens around them/happens to them. I'm just trying to understand him, again, not sympathize with him. But not everyone has an unflappable moral code like Sirius.

And to me, that makes the whole thing even more tragic - because Peter wasn't a firm believer in blood purity and all that stuff. He didn't act from conviction. Which means it didn't have to happen that way.

That's not to say it's on James or Sirius for failing to see what was about to happen. And in hindsight it's always easy to say they should've seen it coming. But ofc you don't have to account for your best friend having you murdered. But well, yeah, I still do think they did pay for underestimating him (and that correlates with being so arrogant to think you have him figured out when you don't bother to get to know him). Sirius thought he was too stupid and too in awe of James to ever pull something like that...

I'm sorry this got so long, and I feel the need to stress again that I do not like him and I despise what he did. I just find it interesting to try to see things from the character's perspective, even if they're a complete asshole. I'm capable of hating Peter and still think that James and Sirius treated him poorly before it all happened. One doesn't rule out the other.

(I also hope this doesn't come across as me ranting at you or something. I really really like your blog and everybody's entitled their own opinion anyhow. And I'm not some sort of Peter Pettigrew/Marauders/Harry Potter authority or anything, obvs)

I love how every character from the marauders era has fans and antis but not Peter Pettigrew. I absolutely love how no matter whose side they're on every one unites and goes fuck tht guy, I hate him. If there r people who are sympathetic to him they're a very, very small minority. Lyk I'm not blaming this 20 yr old for not standing up against the darkest wizard of all time and not wanting to fight in a war, but he could hv just lived a normal life. Especially given his animagus form, he could have just gone and settled elsewhere if he was that terrified. He didn't hv to fucking betray ppl who trusted him, get his friends and (potentially) their infant son killed and frame his other friend so he's imprisoned for the rest of his life with creatures that make u relive ur worst memories and feed on ur soul.

Literally no one likes tht guy, it's kinda funny lmao

[gertrudepetronella-blog]

Venison

This is an odd little short story. Not entirely sure how to rate it. SFW but sort of dark humour type thing. Implied character death. Not going to give specific content warning, because I don't want to spoil it (though the title sort of gives it away). Not for the very squeamish perhaps, but nothing too bad.

TBH I had this idea a couple weeks ago, but I think it fits well with the snapetober prompt #4 Full Moon :)

Set in Marauders era around 5th/6th year. Less than 1k.

‘Evening Moony.’ Sirius grins, hopping over the bench and plonking himself between his two friends. ‘Wormtail.’ He pats the smaller boy on the back.

‘You know I don’t really like that nickname.’ Peter mutters quietly.

‘Nobody likes Sirius’ nicknames.’ Remus comments. ‘But it looks like we’re stuck with them now.’ Thanks to that infernal bloody map. He does not add.

They had said it was just for sneaking out to help Remus on the full moon, which had seemed a very kind and noble thing to do, at least from Remus’ perspective. But then of course both James and Sirius insisted that they “test” the map out by using it to spy on Lily and hunt down Snape.

‘You’re looking better.’ Sirius says then, seeming genuinely caring of Remus’ physical state, and any notion of thinking bad of him is whisked away.

‘Yes thanks.’ Remus smiles back.

‘Where’s James though, gone to try it on with Lily again?’ Sirius rolls his eyes.

‘I haven’t seen him.’ Remus shrugs.

‘Oh, we thought he must be with you?’ Sirius frowns. ‘We haven’t seen him all day have we Peter?’

‘Hmm. That’s odd.’ Remus comments, though he is rather more bothered about when the food is going to appear, he’s bloody starving.

‘Are you sure you haven’t seen him at all?’ Sirius presses. ‘I hope he got back alright last night.’

‘Didn’t you all come back together?’

‘No…’ Sirius bites his lip. ‘We… sort of got separated.’ He admits.

‘All of us?’ Remus scowls, suddenly much more invested in the conversation.

Sirius just shrugs and gives him those puppy dog eyes.

‘The only reason I agreed to this is that you’re supposed to keep an eye on me… it… the wolf.’ Remus drops his voice to a whisper.

‘Don’t worry Moony it happens all the time and you haven’t eaten anyone yet!’ Sirius jokes.

‘That’s not funny Sirius.’ Remus bites out. ‘It’s dangerous, this is life and death, I thought you’d learned your lesson…’

Their argument is interrupted by Hagrid’s hearty laugh booming across the hall, and they all turn around.

‘Oh, perhaps I’ll ask Hagrid if he’s seen Prongs…’ Sirius starts, but then they all stop and stare as the source of the gamekeeper’s laughter is revealed to be none other than Severus Snape. And it wasn’t in a laughing at him sort of way; the two seemed to be enjoying a rather jovial conversation.

‘What the…’ Sirius trails off.

Hagrid and Snape are gesticulating wildly, frowning nodding, smiling, and laughing.

‘Snape’s been helping him with the creatures and that.’ Remus comments, turning back to the table as the food has just appeared.

It is a delicious looking roast of red meat, roast potatoes, cabbage, carrots, and Yorkshire puddings. Remus digs in immediately, shoving a whole roast potato in his mouth, whilst simultaneously pouring gravy over everything on his plate.

‘Since when was Snivellus into magical creatures? He doesn’t even take that class.’ Sirius mutters, slowly turning around. Peter is making quick work of his dinner too, and Sirius starts cutting up his food at a more sedate pace.

‘I think they’ve been going in the forest together.’ Remus says around a mouthful of food. ‘I guess he gets potions ingredients in exchange for helping out.’

‘Well that makes more sense.’ Sirius shrugs. ‘Mmm. This is good.’ He says. ‘What meat is this?’

Remus suddenly stops chewing. In the back of his mind he’d been wondering too. It’s something he’d not had for a while, though he wasn’t sure why, and then it hits him.

‘Oh Merlin.’ He mumbles, looking down at his plate. The meat is pinker than beef, it has a denser texture, and a distinctive earthy flavour. He drops his knife and fork suddenly having lost his appetite.

‘Venison.’ He states.

Looking around the room not everyone has the red meat. Most of the other students seem to have chicken, though he can see both Dumbledore and McGonagall seem to also have Venison.

‘Hmm, what’s that again? It’s rather good isn’t it?’ Sirius comments, taking another bite.

‘No…’ Remus can only rasp. Peter has stopped eating too, and is looking very pale.

‘What?’ Sirius looks between his two friends. ‘What’s wrong with… oh.’

The realisation hits him like a brick, or a cauldron, or perhaps the engine of the Hogwarts Express.

Deer. That’s what Venison is. He turns around slowly, the room almost spinning as the bile rises in his throat.

Across the room Severus Snape is now sitting at the Slytherin table grinning at them. He is in the last place at the end, and next to him on the table is a quiver of arrows and a longbow. Sirius watches in horror as Snape lifts his fork, a dark pink slice of meat speared on the end. Snape gives them a little nod, then pops the venison into his mouth.

He chews slowly smiling at them the whole time.