#deathly hallows meta

[dinarosie]

A plant kept in the dark

In my opinion, one of the most beautiful symbolic descriptions of Snape is found in The Deathly Hallows: “A plant kept in the dark.”

It's fascinating to me how such a small metaphor can add such depth to his story. When I reflect on his fate, I see that his entire life, from childhood to his death, can be encapsulated in this single image: he is always, until the moment of his death, that plant trapped in darkness. Deprived of light, his potential for growth and flourishing is wasted, never to be seen.

His childhood passes with the hope that one day he will find the light. He is a small plant, hungry for sunlight, full of potential, believing that Hogwarts might be the sun he so desperately needs. But he doesn’t realize that he is destined to live his life surrounded by darkness.

As an adult, he bargains with the light but remains hidden in the shadows. He is still deprived of brightness, yet he remains loyal to it. He no longer believes in his own salvation, but over time, he learns that despite the years of solitude and darkness, he can nurture love and sacrifice within himself for the sake of saving others.

His death, too, is steeped in this metaphor. He is killed in a derelict, darkened shack—a place filled with secrets and echoes of his shadowed past—without anyone ever truly understanding his nature or his loyalty to the light.

His death marks the final withering of this neglected plant, and there is a profound sense of wasted potential. A life that, had it been given light and warmth, could have blossomed into something so different.

Severus Snape spent his life surrounded by shadows, his true nature buried beneath years of regret and sacrifice until the moment of his death. He remained forever like a plant kept in the dark, never reaching the light.

[fandoomrants]

Some days I'm okay.

Some days I remember that when Harry sees his parents in DH, they're only four years older than him.

[iamnmbr3]

Draco doesn’t say he saw Harry even though that would've been the obvious way to distract his attacker and get himself out of trouble.

What was he supposed to say here? Was he supposed to just die?

Why was this Death Eater so sure that Draco wasn't on his side? What had Draco done that led him to that conclusion?

I love how Harry immediately, reflexively saves him without even thinking about it. He's moving quickly, trying not to attract attention or get involved. But when Draco is in danger intervening feels utterly natural to him.

[toorumlk]

Hi I'm so freaking obsessed with your twitter.

Also what's your favorite Romione moment in the books and why?

ohohoho thank you, friend, i’m quite proud of some of the stuff i’ve posted on there B)

and as for my favourite romione moment in the books, when i read the question i first blanked out for a couple minutes, thinking of a bunch of smaller, sillier scenes. but then i remembered that i do have a favourite and it’s from chapter 11 of DH, when remus visited the trio at grimmauld place and filled them in on he goings on of the war -including the implementation of the muggle-born registry. ron’s response upon hearing this (after his immediate outrage) was

and it’s not just the hand holding and the “‘you won’t have a choice’ said Ron fiercely” that played out so vividly in my head like this:

but this scene demonstrates so perfectly the political weight of this pairing (muggleborn/blood traitor) which i think is the immovable narrative foundation of romione. all of their silly moments and idiosyncrasies aside, there is genuine narrative purpose behind this love. ron has always had an astute understanding of the blood supremacist politics of the wizarding world (need i remind that he was ready to curse shitco at the ripe age of 12 for calling hermione the in-universe slur) and just how wrong it is. ron is a pure-blood wizard and by design has so much privilege in this society bc of it, but by virtue of having parents like arthur and molly, he’s grown up knowing the importance of fighting against blood supremacist ideology. always.

so, after hearing about the completely horrifying muggleborn registry ("People won't let this happen," said Ron. "It is happening, Ron," said Lupin.), he immediately turns to his muggleborn best friend and love of his life and says “i’m making you a family member, i’m going to use the protection my family-name has and use it to protect you from the awful injustice of our situation, no you won’t have a choice but to let me help you”

i remember having such a… visceral reaction while reading this scene like holy shit .. these kids, THESE KIDS!!!!! this is the bone-marrow-deep love that makes me feel insane. this dynamic of the blood traitor/muggleborn always there, from CoS all the way to the epilogue. We get to see that romione is the story’s pure blood/muggleborn that finally made it (rip jily and tedromeda :(). we see it in hermione keeping her muggle last name after they get married (oh my god these two actually got married) and we also see it in the hyphenated Granger-Weasley (granger being first!) in their kids’ last names (oh my gof these two had TWO kids). they are a true symbol of change and progress in their world.

also this is one of those moments where i’m so glad that our only window to romiones relationship development is through harry’s narration because it so brilliantly shows the readers this blossoming love story instead of just telling us about it because harry obviously doesn’t have access to the inner thoughts of his two best friends, he can only witness them fall deeper in love. showing the audience acts of love is always more powerful and my god is this an act of showing your love to your beloved.

(and not to go on an unrelated tangent, but this is exactly why i could never ship my girl hermione w any DE or DE-adjacent character. no fucking way. not when the concept of a muggle-born registry exists in this universe, not when the antagonists in this story wish to eradicate people like her from their society. idk about the rest of y’all but im going to keep taking the narrative seriously bc the worldbuilding obviously has real world ties/implications and i like engaging with the canon. tangently to the tangent, i saw someone (a ron basher) on twitter say that ron, OUR RON FROM THE ABOVE EXCERPT, was “one bad day away from becoming a death eater” ohhhh ohhh i ought to beat you with sticks bc HUH? this is the same kid who said he would’ve boarded the train back to kings cross if he got sorted to slytherin, the house notorious for birthing DEs, at the tender age of 11)

anyways, all this to say is that romione is incredibly, realistically, materially romantic and i love them and i love their love <3

[hollowed-theory-hall]

So, I continued my reread of book 7 and I found a line that broke my heart a little.

When Harry and Hermione decide to go to Godric's Hollow, Harry thinks this:

He was about to go home, about to return to the place where he had had a family. It was in Godric’s Hollow that, but for Voldemort, he would have grown up and spent every school holiday. He could have invited friends to his house. . . . He might even have had brothers and sisters. . . . It would have been his mother who had made his seventeenth birthday cake.

(DH, 321)

He calls Godric's Hollow "home".

This is really sad, like, yeah, Harry, you really don't have any other home. The Dursleys were never a home, Hogwarts, the first place to feel like a home (and even that came with dangers and problems) is unreachable, Harry can't go back there in book 7. So the only home that's left for him is Godric's Hollow and its ghosts. The reminders of a life he could have had. The home that was his for only a year and four months. The only real home Harry ever had.

It's just sad he refers to it as going home even when he doesn't remember said home at all.

[lines-in-limbo]

I don’t think Snape liked his students but I do think he care about their wellbeing - another scene that comes to my mind is in DH when he’s headmaster. Students are being tortured and mutilated on the regular under the new Death Eater curriculum (Snape needs to let it happen to play his role as Voldemort’s servant). But when he catches Ginny and Neville trying to steal the sword from his room, their detention is… dun dun dun… going to the forest with Hagrid.

Yes, that’s a great scene. Though Snape had already promised Dumbledore before his death that he would do anything in his power to protect the students if Voldemort took over. Given his history of safeguarding students from danger, I believe he would’ve acted the same way regardless of Dumbledore's request.

Additionally, comparing McGonagall’s approach to detentions with Snape's under normal circumstances, sheds light on their differing methods. McGonagall sometimes assigns risky detentions—like when she sent four first years into the Forbidden Forest to search for a wounded unicorn, despite warnings to stay out given by the teachers themselves. Snape, on the other hand, tends to give detentions that are tedious and unpleasant, such as cleaning bedpans or disemboweling toads, but never risky.

The scene you brought up, where he sent Ginny and Neville into the forest with Hagrid, was a strategic move on Snape's part and a necessity. He had to give them a risky detention to appease the new regime and avoid suspicion, while covertly shielding them from brutal punishment by the Carrows. It exemplifies Snape’s ability to navigate his loyalty to Voldemort while subtly protecting the students.

I love Snape so much; he’s such a complex character, and I love delving into his motives. Thank you for bringing up this scene—it’s another compelling example of Snape’s concern for his students' physical well-being. 🫶🏻

[ashesandhackles]

Harry and Dumbledore: Crisis of Faith

The Life and Lies of Dumbledore chapter from DH lives rent free in my head, and I would love to get on my soapbox about why. It's no secret that DH is an allegorical tale with Harry as Christ figure and Dumbledore positioned as God figure - often represented by the symbolism of the all-seeing eye. The eye in the mirror (which turns out to Aberforth, who sends Dobby to the rescue), the symbol of Deathly Hallows in Dumbledore's signature.

Eye symbolism:

A flash of brightest blue. Harry froze, his cut finger slipping on the jagged edge of the mirror again. He had imagined it, he must have done... If anything was certain, it was that the bright blue eyes of Albus Dumbledore would never pierce him again.

and

 Above what Harry assumed was the title of the story (being unable to read runes, he could not be sure) , there was a picture of what looked like a triangular eye, its pupil crossed with a vertical line.

The Deathly Hallows or the Gifts of Death is marked by a triangular eye - and it is explicitly seen as God's eye in Christian art and iconography.

So now, back to the chapter, where Harry completely loses faith:

The sun was coming up: The pure, colorless vastness of the sky stretched over him, indifferent to him and his suffering. Harry sat down in the tent entrance and took a deep breath of clean air.

The chapter opens with the smallness of Harry against the vast sky, a bird's eye view shot to really highlight how vulnerable he feels. On the heels of the chapters where he sees himself and his family immortalised in statues and have their bombed home preserved as memorial - a site people take comfort from the legend of Harry, and Harry takes comfort from the graffiti they left behind - it feels especially isolated. The vulnerability is glaring: Harry has lost the protection of the twin cores. The church bells are distant.

His senses had been spiked by the calamity of losing his wand. He looked out over a valley blanketed in snow, distant church bells chiming through the glittering silence.

Harry does not deal with vulnerability, most specifically helplessness very well. As a child raised in an abusive environment - his savior complex is rooted in needing to have agency. We see him grappling with what he perceives as complete abandonment from Dumbledore: 'Dumbledore had left them to grope in the darkness, to wrestle with unknown and undreamed-of terrors, alone and unaided: Nothing was explained, nothing was given freely, they had no sword, and now, Harry had no wand.'

And then, Harry reads the chapter titled Greater Good from Rita Skeeter's book.

So what was Albus doing, if not comforting his wild young brother? The answer, it seems, is ensuring the continued imprisonment of his sister.

This is important, because Harry's feelings about this are made clear in earlier chapters:

Could Dumbledore have let such things happen? Had he been like Dudley, content to watch neglect and abuse as long as it did not affect him? Could he have turned his back on a sister who was being imprisoned and hidden?

Harry is projecting onto Ariana Dumbledore, specifically with his experience of the Dursleys. He had once raged at Dumbledore in OOTP: "People don't like being locked up! You did it to me last summer!"

Harry's grievance with Dumbledore is not just about this exchange, but a specific choice Dumbledore made for his physical safety with blood wards. The narrative comes close to acknowledging it, in OOTP:

“Five years ago you arrived at Hogwarts, Harry, safe and whole, as I had planned and intended. Well — not quite whole. You had suffered. I knew you would when I left you on your aunt and uncle’s doorstep. I knew I was condemning you to ten dark and difficult years.” He paused. Harry said nothing.

to

“She doesn’t love me,” said Harry at once. “She doesn’t give a damn — ” “But she took you,” Dumbledore cut across him. “She may have taken you grudgingly, furiously, unwillingly, bitterly, yet still she took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother’s sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you.”

to

He knew one thing, though: unhappy as he felt at the moment, he would greatly miss Hogwarts in a few days' time when he was back at number four, Privet Drive. Even though he now understood exactly why he had to return there every summer, he did not feel any better about it. Indeed, he had never dreaded his return more.

Harry understands it then, so it is striking that the only time he allows himself to get truly angry at the position Dumbledore put him in this chapter, through Ariana:

 “I’m not trying to defend what Dumbledore wrote,” said Hermione. “All that ‘right to rule’ rubbish, it’s ‘Magic Is Might’ all over again. But Harry, his mother had just died, he was stuck alone in the house —”   “Alone? He wasn’t alone! He had his brother and sister for company, his Squib sister he was keeping locked up —”

“I don’t believe it,” said Hermione. She stood up too. “Whatever was wrong with that girl, I don’t think she was a Squib. The Dumbledore we knew would never, ever have allowed —”   “The Dumbledore we thought we knew didn’t want to conquer Muggles by force!” Harry shouted, his voice echoing across the empty hilltop, and several blackbirds rose into the air, squawking and spiraling against the pearly sky.

I am especially struck by the image of Harry's angry shouting making blackbirds fly into the pearly sky, and spiral over him. Blackbirds are associated with mystery, secrets and are seen as messengers to netherworld - this combined with the image of pearly white sky (heavens/God) seems intentional. It is carrying Harry's disillusionment to the heavens.

And then, the quote that pierces my soul, which is the heart of this chapter:

“Maybe I am!” Harry bellowed, and he flung his arms over his head, hardly knowing whether he was trying to hold in his anger or protect himself from the weight of his own disillusionment. “Look what he asked from me, Hermione! Risk your life, Harry! And again! And again! And don’t expect me to explain everything, just trust me blindly, trust that I know what I’m doing, trust me even though I don’t trust you! Never the whole truth! Never!”

It is reminiscent of Snape's "you have used me! I have spied for you, lied for you, put myself in mortal danger for you" - basically, "why have you forsaken me?" moment.

 He had trusted Dumbledore, believed him the embodiment of goodness and wisdom. All was ashes: How much more could he lose? 

The chapter being set in whiteness and emptiness, reminiscent of King's Cross chapter where Harry does get his answers from Dumbledore.

And then Hermione, who has modified her parents memories, can confidently assert that "He loved you, I know he loved you", because her love for her parents, for Ron, can also be sacrificed at the altar of greater good, even if it means doing things that would hurt them (not choosing to go with Ron) and dismiss their agency (as is with her parents). It doesn't mean she doesn't love them.

  “I don’t know who he loved, Hermione, but it was never me. This isn’t love, the mess he’s left me in. He shared a damn sight more of what he was really thinking with Gellert Grindelwald than he ever shared with me.”

Harry ends the chapter with seeking comfort from Hermione's touch, brushing his hair - wishing he could believe that Dumbledore really cared. (shoutout to @bluethepineapple meta here about this chapter)

And it is then where Dumbledore's gifts come in motion next chapter: his Deluminator lets Ron find his way back. Snape, effectively Dumbledore's man, sends the doe. Harry counts on what he learned from Dumbledore to destroy the Horcrux - he gives Ron the opportunity to wield the sword:

As certainly as he had known that the doe was benign, he knew that Ron had to be the one to wield the sword. Dumbledore had at least taught Harry something about certain kinds of magic, of the incalculable power of certain acts.

And then by Shell Cottage, Harry accepts Dumbledore's plan as is, and reaffirms his faith in Dumbledore's idea of Greater Good:

Dobby would never be able to tell them who had sent him to the cellar, but Harry knew what he had seen. A piercing blue eye had looked out of the mirror fragment, and then help had come. Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it.

And then Harry chooses to stay on path Dumbledore laid out for him, only wishing now that he simply understood the man:

When Harry had finished speaking (about Voldemort), Ron shook his head.   “You really understand him.”   “Bits of him,” said Harry. “Bits . . . I just wish I’d understood Dumbledore as much. But we’ll see. Come on — Ollivander now.”

And finally, he starts to understand Dumbledore - through his conversation with Aberforth:

"And Albus was free, wasn’t he? Free of the burden of his sister, free to become the greatest wizard of the —”   “He was never free,” said Harry.   “I beg your pardon?” said Aberforth.   “Never,” said Harry. “The night that your brother died, he drank a potion that drove him out of his mind. He started screaming, pleading with someone who wasn’t there. ‘Don’t hurt them, please . . . hurt me instead.’”   “He thought he was back there with you and Grindelwald, I know he did,” said Harry, remembering Dumbledore whimpering, pleading. “He thought he was watching Grindelwald hurting you and Ariana. . . . It was torture to him, if you’d seen him then, you wouldn’t say he was free.”

Finally, he gets his chance to have a conversation with Dumbledore at the crossroads of life and death. TLDR: Deathly Hallows is an allegorical tale and it is best to treat it as such and roll with it, because otherwise it's deus ex machina galore.

[fanfictionroxs]

I love grindledore, but Dumbledore siblings, however broken, were Always the true love.

Aberforth being his brother's keeper and the voice of reason that brings Albus back to reality, who sticks by his older brother in war after war (after all they do have the same morals.. almost). Ariana's ghost haunting them forever because their trio is forever incomplete without her. Albus finding his true desire to ultimately be them, his family.. remembering them, never forgetting or forgiving himself for the horrific things that happened almost a century ago because his siblings' pain is his own.. Gellert is his love, but what is 2 months of understanding to a lifetime of hateful begrudging love, love that never lets go come heaven or hell, love that is so understandably angry yet absolute, unwavering.. what is 2 months of Gellert's conditional love in front of a 100 years of unconditional love that his little brother gives him? And Albus doesnt know who really teaches him the true meaning of love or makes him fall in love with the idea of love, is it Gellert or Abe.. maybe it's both.. or perhaps it is simply in a dumbledore's nature to be enamoured with love and give it as much as possible like Abe does to Albus and Ariana. And it's almost a hundred years without Ariana yet Aberforth and Albus never forget to love her with every breath they take and she doesn't. And the three Dumbledores are doomed tragic siblings, but they are each other's true love until the end.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

hilarious to me that jkr set out to write a straighforward good vs evil story but almost all of the oppressed nonhuman/part human creatures in the hp universe side with voldemort bc they think he'll be at least marginally (or potentially much better) for them than the established order bc of how badly they are oppressed by the current government in wizarding society. and the implications of that...are not really explored.

In @rankheresy book club we're currently reading Deathly Hallows and it's very... noticeable is the word I suppose that Harry when meeting with these oppressed creatures (Kreacher, Dobby, Griphook) offers them nothing.

Not even a "I will try really hard to change the laws". Just nothing. And they sure do nothing once Harry and friends are in charge.

It's beautiful.

[teacup-gathering-itself]

Harry Potter AU where he’s dead at Kings Cross and when told “you have to choose whether you return or you board the train” he’s like.

Can I decide later? I’m tired.

And death kinda gives him this once over, taking in just how exhausted he is, and is like.

Yeah, kid. Sure, you can wait to decide.

And anyways Harry pops up years after he was declared dead, just one day walks out of the Potter Family Crypt.

In a world where Neville Longbottom dealt the killing blow, and there were two boys who took part in the prophecy, Harry returns and meets his peers, who have all grown into full adults, and are forced to realize just how bad it was. How malnourished Harry Potter was. How young he really was. How insane it was that they all lived through that in their childhood.

Oh and for funsies. How does the world find out about Harry’s return? He visits a memorial site and corrects the tour guide.

“That ABSOLUTELY is not what happened??”

“Oh and you’re such an expert?”

“Uh yeah. I literally was there.”

“Really? And you are?”

“Harry. Harry Potter. Yanno, the Boy Who Lived and all that ‘neither can survive while the other lives’ shit? Did you need me to recite everything Voldemort said to me in the graveyard? Or the forest? Or from the back of Quirrel’s head? Or from inside my head when he found out his soul was in my scar? Or is there something else you need? I never thought I’d get used to everyone recognizing me, but it’s weird now that people don’t…”

“???????”

[360degreesasthecrowflies]

I sometimes think JKR completely forgot that her readers are all Muggles. At some point, I see young fans re-reading the series and realizing exactly where non-magical humans fit into the Wizarding World. Yes, a lot of people accept (or have made up, since I don't see much canon evidence for it) the excuse that wizards are outnumbered and afraid of the Muggles, but they actually treat them more like animals than potential enemies. Of course, that's also exactly how they treat the other magical beings, even Werewolves who used to be wizards. The question of normal humans' place is never even raised by our heroes (if we can call them that), and, in fact, one of them used magic to cheat on his driving test. If the wizards are hiding their existence because they're afraid of Muggles (which actually doesn't fit very well with the fact that they accept Muggleborn wizards into the wizarding world, necessitating telling some Muggles), then all they're doing is giving Muggles reason to fear, hate, and kill or enslave them as the wizards themselves been doing to other magical creatures. If you look at the series from the point of view of any non-wizard, it's like the tag line for Alien vs. Predator - whoever wins, we lose.

source: smurasaki's comment from this 2008 chapter review of the Deathly Hallows epilogue

[dinarosie]

The Silver Doe: A Silent Bridge Between Harry and Snape

It was a silver-white doe, moon-bright and dazzling, picking her way over the ground, still silent, and leaving no hoofprints in the fine powdering of snow. She stepped toward him, her beautiful head with its wide, long-lashed eyes held high. Harry stared at the creature, filled with wonder, not at her strangeness, but at her inexplicable familiarity. He felt that he had been waiting for her to come, but that he had forgotten, until that moment, that they had arranged to meet. His impulse to shout for Hermione, which had been so strong a moment ago, had gone. He knew, he would have staked his life on it, that she had come for him, and him alone. They gazed at each other for several long moments and then she turned an walked away. “No,” he said, and his voice was cracked with lack of use. “Come back!” -Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," Chapter: The Silver Doe

The name Severus that Harry bestows upon his son is far more than a tribute to a bitter, spiteful teacher from his childhood. It signifies a profound and transformative connection between Harry and Severus Snape—a connection that doesn’t begin with the revelation of Snape’s memories but far earlier, when Harry first encounters the silver doe in the forest.

In following the doe, Harry unwittingly steps into Snape’s world of sacrifice, sorrow, and steadfast loyalty. At first glance, the encounter seems otherworldly—a dazzling symbol of hope in Harry’s darkest hour. Yet beneath the surface lies an extraordinary moment of connection. The doe is more than a guide; it is an extension of Snape’s soul, silently offering trust and protection.

Harry’s reaction to the doe reveals the depth of this connection. He doesn’t marvel at her magic or mystery but feels an inexplicable sense of familiarity and belonging. Instinctively, he knows she has come for him and him alone. With this recognition, his fear dissipates, and his impulse to call for Hermione vanishes. In this fleeting moment, Harry feels safe—not through logic, but through a deep, intuitive trust that mirrors the care Snape has secretly provided all along.

Though Harry doesn’t yet know the truth, this silent encounter plants the seeds of understanding. It is a moment where Snape’s hidden love and sacrifices shine quietly, paving the way for Harry to later accept the memories entrusted to him. This bond is not forged through words or grand gestures but through the luminous act of trust embodied by the silver doe.

Through the Patronus, Snape offers Harry more than the Sword of Gryffindor; he offers a lifeline of trust and protection. For Harry, the doe becomes a momentary sanctuary, embodying both his mother’s love and Snape’s enduring dedication.

In the stillness of the snow, Harry finds more than just a patronus—he finds an anchor, a connection to someone who has carried their burdens in silence. Amidst his loneliness, he receives a rare and precious gift: the unshakable sense of being seen, protected, and guided by an unseen hand that had always been there, waiting quietly for him to notice it.

The doe becomes a bridge between them, a silent symbol of a bond they both needed but could never articulate. This silver doe—moonlit and soundless—is the first whisper of a truth that would shape Harry’s understanding of Snape and, ultimately, inspire the name he would carry into the next generation.

[apparentlytheproblem]

hey, I’ve noticed you don’t have anything romantically for harry (and I’m a harry defender cause he’s underrated in his own movie, I love harry) SO harry x fem!reader fluffy oneshot (it can be 5th or 6th year you choose) just cuddling in the common room together being all cute yk kisses falling asleep together,etc so basically pure fluff. don’t feel pressured tho, if you don’t want to do this then don’t and I’ll understand. have a good day/night <3

t w i t t e r p a t e d

fandom- harry potter

pairing(s)-harry potter

a/n: so im gonna be honest, i did not love harry in his movies but the book owns my heart. its just that everything that has made him who he is just washed away in the screen time, but im going to try my best to deliver and tysm for requesting, it absolutley made my day. and i just wanna apologize why it took so long, there are hundreds of requests and im swamped but im really trying, i promise requests are open luv, tiya

requested- yes

warnings- tooth rotting fluff, finally proof read, a very soft harry

"darlin quit movin"

he was given a snicker for a response, a one that did'nt sound much like you at all

he opened an eye to see Fred Weasley cuddling up to him while his twin and Lee Jordan enjoying the sight with his girlfriend.

"can i get a kiss first arry?" fred droned leaving you tryin you to muffle your giggles.

harry rolled him of the sofa he was napping with and beckoned you to come back with an outstretched arm as he straightened himself.

"hoi"

"hi yourself"

he pulled you in gently by the hem of your skirt. your torso was lined to his face as his hands embraced the behind of your thighs, shoving his face into your white shirt.

"lets leave lover boy alone for a while, i need someone who reacts to tormentation." remarked George in what he disguised his sympathy for boredom of playing with the lot of you.

"call me tonight baby" winked Fred signaling to harry on his way out to the kitchens

the common room was almost empty when he pulled you on top of him, pushing your shoes off. you were upright on his abdomen as he helped you remove your robe.

you comfortably find yourself entangled to him as he peppered kisses from your shoulder to neck

externally, you've done this rodeo before, but internally you were screaming.

and he had the sweetest smile plastered on his lips,

for when you glanced at him, you fell in love,

and he smiled because he knew.

[iamnmbr3]

When Harry witnesses Draco being forced to torture Rowle, he is extremely upset. Much more so than he typically is about these visions. There are a lot of very drarry implications. Let's break it down.

"Malfoy’s gaunt, petrified face seemed branded on the inside of his eyes. Harry felt sickened by what he had seen, by the use to which Draco was now being put by Voldemort.”

Notable points from this passage:

1) Harry understands Draco so well that he immediately takes for granted that he doesn't want to be using the Cruciatus curse. It never even crosses his mind to take this as evidence that Draco is now a willing torturer who enjoys cruelty or that he deserves to be in this situation for having chosen the wrong side and for his role in Dumbledore's death.

Nor does Harry think Draco is just scared and upset because he's afraid Voldemort might lash out at him too - which is what Harry would think if he saw any other Death Eater acting afraid around Voldemort. He clearly sees that Draco is horrified by the acts he is being forced to commit. And he also completely accepts that it is Voldemort forcing Draco to commit these acts, thus absolving Draco of responsibility.

2) Harry is DEEPLY upset by seeing Draco in this position. More upset than he ever is about seeing any other Death Eater being terrorized or hurt by Voldemort (Harry doesn't even spare one thought for Rowle for example!) Not only that. He's also more upset than he is about seeing Ollivander tortured. Or about seeing Voldemort murder a woman and her children later on while searching for information about Gregorovitch. He finds those visions alarming but he shakes them off pretty quickly.

The only comparable strong reactions are how he responds to his visions of Arthur Weasley and Sirius in book 5 - i.e. visions of people he knows and cares about in danger and suffering. And it's not even the scene as a whole that upsets him. It's specifically Draco - whose frightened face seems "branded" on the inside of Harry's eyes. Harry can't get the vision out of his head, feels sickened, and fights to keep his voice casual afterward. Even though Draco wasn't even actively being hurt.

So canonically Draco matters to Harry in a way that almost all other people don't. It's not generic nobility that gives Harry sympathy even for an enemy - because he doesn't feel this way about other Death Eaters. And it's not general pity that Harry would feel for any innocent hurt by Voldemort - because he doesn't feel that way about victims like Ollivander or the children Voldemort killed. It's the type of reaction Harry ONLY has to people he deeply cares about suffering or being in danger. Harry may not think of it that way on an intellectual level. But his heart knows it even if his brain doesn't. He cares about Draco Malfoy. A lot. He cares about him more than he cares about almost anyone else.

3) Also notable. Harry starts out referring to him as Malfoy but then switches to thinking of him as Draco as he starts worrying about him. (Yes. The drarry trope of Harry switching from "Malfoy" to "Draco" literally happens. IN CANON.) And he keeps thinking of him as Draco after that point. The next time Draco is referred to is during the whole sequence where the Golden Trio are prisoners at the Manor. Harry refers to Lucius by his full name multiple times, but consistently refers to Draco as "Draco" rather than "Malfoy" in his internal narration.

4) (Also the fact that Draco's face is described as "gaunt" hits me right in the feels. It seems that he's in worse shape even than he was when Harry last saw him at the end of 6th year. Sad but not surprising given the guilt that is probably eating at him over his role in Dumbledore's death, what he is now being forced to do as a Death Eater, and the very tangible dangers and suffering that come with being out of favor with Voldemort while having him in your house.)

Tldr: I don't need my ships to be canon but drarry is. jkr who? ;)

[cimerran-714]

Okay, so as the fandom likes to claim that Harry/Hermione wouldn't work because Harry himself says that he likes her as a sister, I thought I'll make a post about that. After all, it's something we hear from his mouth, right? It's supposed to be the "smoking gun" evidence.

All we have to do, however, is to look at the situation more closely.

*rubs hands together*.

First of all, you can say one thing and mean another. As canon shippers claim that there's evidence of Romione before book 4 which are NOT romantic in nature (as in you don't have to actually say that you like someone, as Romione shippers bring up things like Hermione noticing Ron's face closely in the first book, etc), we can apply the same principle to Harmony. There's a whole lot of textual evidence that Harry finds her attractive.

“After you left,” he said in a low voice, grateful for the fact that Ron’s face was hidden, “she cried for a week. Probably longer, only she didn’t want me to see. There were loads of nights when we never even spoke to each other. With you gone..."

Two things to note here:

Harry's apparently grateful that Ron's face is hidden when he makes this statement, which should make us wonder how truthful he's being.

The emphasis on the "nights" is interesting. We do know that they were actively discussing the location of the Horcruxes, from an early chapter, despite being sad initially that Ron had left. But of course Harry cannot tell him that. He had just returned, and so he makes it sound as if they hardly spoke to each other after Ron had left. That's a lie.

Like I said, we have to look at the context. They had moved on without Ron, and part of the reason Harry says that is probably to make him feel better now that he's back.

And lastly, Harry even considered Ginny as his sister initially. Have a look at this:

They had lived, had they not, like brother and sister all summer, playing Quidditch, teasing Ron, and having a laugh about Bill and Phlegm?

Yes, Harry's rationalizing it to himself, but he's doing that by thinking back to how he essentially considered Ginny as his sister while they were at The Burrow.

So, no, it's not a slam-dunk argument when canon shippers bring it up, even though it certainly looks like that on the surface.

[hollowed-theory-hall]

More notes from my Deathly Hallows reread about Harry's magic being super powerful and not working the way magic is supposed to work:

“Harry?” Ron’s voice echoed suddenly from the other side of the wall to Harry’s right. “Are you talking to someone?” With a whiplike movement, Crabbe pointed his wand at the fifty-foot mountain of old furniture, of broken trunks, of old books and robes and unidentifiable junk, and shouted, “Descendo,” The wall began to totter, then the top third crumbled into the aisle next door where Ron stood. “Ron!” Harry bellowed, as somewhere out of sight Hermione screamed, and Harry heard innumerable objects crashing to the floor on the other side of the destabilized wall: He pointed his wand at the rampart, cried, “Finite!” and it steadied.

(DH, 629)

Like, what Descendo does is make objects fall down. Like, the moment he cast it at the pile of junk, it started falling down, but Crabbe wasn't casting the spell anymore, he cast it once, for a short moment to make everything start toppling. To steady, the pile of junk, you'll need a spell to keep it steady since once it starts falling, a finite isn't going to help. A finite stops a spell that is in effect, but the descendo isn't actually in effect anymore, it gave the pile a nudge, and then gravity did the rest. At least in this case, since the items are described as falling down naturally and not shooting down by the magic of the spell.

But, apparently, when Harry Potter casts finite, it can work against gravity because he's Harry Potter.