#go off on him Lily

[scuderiabangbon]

JAILLLLLL

[lulu-draws-stuff]

My sort of future au designs (traced/edited their psychonauts 2 renders for this) :] they are like 13 here

[t1oui]

thinking about james teaching regulus how to swim after the cave

reg is terrified and won't top clinging to him and james doesn't mind, he's perfectly patient, taking regulus out to swim in the river by effie and monty's every single day that the water's warm enough and then to the local muggle pool to teach him

eventually regulus gets to be a pretty strong swimmer and actually enjoys swimming, but sometimes he still panics and james ends up pulling reg around with him again

sometimes regulus just holds onto james and james will be jumping around and swimming fast just to make reg laugh

and then after they dry off james wraps him in a fluffy blanket and tells him how well he did (even if he got water in his nose and ended up panicking and almost drowning james)

[lilithofpenandbook]

Seriously how can M*r*uders stans like random Slytherins (who tf are Evan Rosier, Pandora (is that Luna's mum and why tf is she Evan Rosier's twin in half of these), and I don't even want to discuss Regulus) and make them Actually Misunderstood Good People Who Were Forced Down That Path when at least one of them *coughreguluscough* was obsessed with Voldemort

And then turn around and make Snape an awful person?

[elliewiltarwyn]

Roevember Day 3: Invitation

"I'm just saying - if it's adventure you seek...you could do far worse than to come with me." "...it's been a while since the last one, it's true... but I'm gonna need a little more than that. Before I accept your invitation..."

"...it would help if I had a better sense of what kind of warrior you are." "Oh? Goodness, to think one of the Warriors of Light would challenge me...! Well - hah! Who am I to refuse?"

plus some bonus shots that i liked

[lienspien]

Let's all be so real if James was the one narrararing his love story with whoever you ship him with, it's going to be delusional, highly romanticised and inaccurate to what that person actually said and did and looked like. But I'll believe him 100%

[quibbs126]

Randomly because I’m thinking about it, one thing I think is interesting about the Ancients’ designs is that Golden Cheese, Dark Cacao and Hollyberry all have eye colors that match the colors of their Soul Jam. Meanwhile, White Lily’s don’t reflect her Soul Jam’s color, and she ended up becoming Dark Enchantress

But then we have Pure Vanilla, who has one eye that matches his Soul Jam, and one that doesn’t

I’d argue that this could have a meaning of him being somewhere in the middle, or having to struggle between, but I’m pretty sure nothing like this will end up actually happening with him

But I mean, it’s an interesting detail

Actually you know what, while we’re speaking of Pure Vanilla’s design, he’s weird from the other Ancients in other ways too

Most obviously, his color scheme doesn’t match his Soul Jam whatsoever, unlike the rest of the Ancients. I mean sure, Dark Cacao’s color scheme has a lot of greys, but they’re purple tinted greys, and he does still have purples in his cape. But Pure Vanilla is made up predominantly of yellows with some white and brown, while his Soul Jam is blue

Granted I don’t think that’s an intentional character thing. I think it’s just because they had two Ancients with predominantly yellow color schemes, both of which couldn’t really change too much since that’s what their ingredients typically are, so one of them had to get a different colored gem if they wanted all the Soul Jams to be distinct in color. And you can’t really make blue the predominant color in a vanilla based Cookie, that just wouldn’t make sense. I mean sure, cacao isn’t really purple, but Dark Cacao has the black hair, and his purple leans more on the warm color side, which cacao usually is, so it isn’t as ludicrous a difference

I mean maybe they could have made his Soul Jam a reddish brown or white like Mystic Flour’s, but that’d break with the color schemes of the other Soul Jams, which are all bright, vibrant colors

And then aside from his color scheme, another thing I noticed is that the shape of his Soul Jam doesn’t really feature anywhere else in his design. Everyone else has this to some extent, with Dark Cacao’s diamond shoulder pads and crown, Hollyberry and Golden Cheese’s heart and triangle patterns, and even White Lily in that her dress is like an upside down fleur de lis. Pure Vanilla meanwhile, doesn’t really have the club anywhere

I can’t really give an explanation as to why, other than maybe the club symbol being hard to incorporate, but they were able to put White Lily’s symbol at least somewhere else on her design

Sorry, this pivoted after the first point, but I just wanted to add on more observations I made

[noxious-fennec]

Something about making it right instead of apologising in advance

[aj-lenoire]

i do not enjoy harry potter anymore and even when i did, snape was not a character i ever liked, but for some reason my ‘for you’ page is just full of dedicated snape stan accounts and i hate it

[lichilly]

you cut joseph's hair on a warm, summer morning

cw so fluffy i keeled over and died, gender-neutral reader

You hold the scissors with your middle finger and thumb, snipping the air with trembling fingers. The metal gleams brightly, reflecting rays of yellow and white into your eyes from the sun streaming through the kitchen window. The kitchen smells of fresh coffee and the lingering scent of breakfast, a comforting backdrop.

You take a deep breath, feeling the cool air fill your lungs. "I've never cut hair before."

Joseph sits patiently in front of you, the wooden chair groaning under his weight as he shifts to get more comfortable. His hair, slightly longer since you first met, curls gently at the ends. With the summer heat rising each day, he had asked you for a trim.

He chuckles softly, "Really? Should I be worried then?"

"I mean," you swallow, trying to steady your nerves, "I wouldn't blame you if you were."

"I trust you." His voice is soft, filled with an unspoken reassurance that makes your heart swell. His words give you a shot of confidence.

"Okay." You set your eyebrows, take another deep breath, and steady your hand as you pull a brown strand between your pointer and middle finger. "Here we go."

With a quick snip, an inch of hair twirls to the ground, catching the sunlight like tiny dancers.

"Feeling cooler already," he sighs jokingly, his shoulders rolling as you prepare to cut another strand. The warmth of his voice makes you feel more at ease.

A comfortable silence envelops you both as you work, snipping here and there, checking the evenness between strands. The sound of the scissors cutting through hair is rhythmic, almost soothing. You make your way to the front, where his bangs, overgrown and nearly covering his left eye, require attention. You comb the hair down flat over his eyes, the strands silky under your fingers. You carefully cut the long pieces, cautious not to cut too close to his face.

"You sure you've never cut hair before?" he asks, his eyes closed in bliss. "You seem like a natural."

You hum, your cheeks warming. "I'm just great at faking confidence. For all you know, I could be giving you a bowl cut."

He laughs, his nose crinkling, a sound that makes your heart skip. "Is that why my head feels lighter?"

You finish with his bangs, fluffing them up and snipping off any stray strands. "Well, now's the time to see for yourself. I'm all done!"

You take the towel off his shoulders, brushing off the cut hair onto the kitchen tile, and hand him a handheld mirror. He examines his hair in the tiny mirror, turning his face from side to side. You bite your thumbnail, crossing your arms over your chest as you wait for his reaction.

With a laugh, he runs a hand through his hair, his touch gentle. "Holy shit."

"So," you begin shyly, "you like it?"

He gently tosses the mirror onto the counter beside you and stands up suddenly, pulling you into a tight hug. His arms wrap around you, the warmth of his body radiating into yours. Your eyes widen, and you inhale sharply, the scent of his cologne mingling with the scent of freshly cut hair.

"I love it," he coos in your ear, his voice a tender whisper as he tucks his nose into your hair. "Thank you."

You sigh, smiling into his chest as you wrap your arms around his middle, feeling the steady beat of his heart against you. "I'm glad you like it."

[firendgold]

I always block the Manipulative Albus tag obviously but I also always want to block the Good Albus tag because I mean… isn’t that a given? That’s like having a Good Harry Potter tag… like, no shit. Fork found in kitchen.

Like yeah he made some tough decisions but his intentions were good. And, imo, if the information, skills and power were placed in anyone else’s hands - whether it be McGonagall or Kingsley or even Harry himself (as Inverse elucidates)- they would have struggled and failed to do better.

Also like… the Grindelwald stuff was literally a century ago when Dumbledore was practically a child. Why are we so generous towards Regulus Black who probably literally butchered muggles and muggleborns but we can’t forgive Albus who was lower-class, had an insanely difficult homelife and likely faced otherization and racism for having a Native American, muggleborn mother. I think if you can forgive anyone for being radicalised against muggles, you can forgive the teenage boy who eventually lost his mother, his father and his sister because of an anti-Wizard/Witch hate crime.

Ugh.

Most people don't bother to look into Albus' deeper history—and by that I mean the stuff we knew even before Pottermore and Fantastic Beasts and the outside interviews. All of the information about Albus' past is in Deathly Hallows, his race and social status and circumstances—all right there for people to read. But that cements Albus's status as a good but complex character so bashers ignore it or downplay it. And I in turn ignore them.

To your point about the 'good Albus' tag, I think you have to consider what you said first about the manipulative Albus tag. It is so ubiquitous. In just the six years or so since I got back into HP fanfic and fandom, the amount of dumb people who think Albus is manipulative/evil/shady has not decreased. It has quadrupled if anything. Even when using the tag that's supposed to be about Albus and Harry's positive relationship, there are at least 80 fics right now on AO3 that have that tag or similar. You have to block it all to stay sane.

But EVEN if you block the manipulative/evil/greater good tags, lots of other people will write fics about Albus with neither a good nor manipulative tag, but then their Albus Dumbledore will still be wrong. He will be manipulative and want to control everyone, will be untrustworthy for "some" reason not ever quite explained to the reader, will still be pining after Grindelwald and worshipping at the altar of the 'Greater Good' even after age 17. So unfortunately no, 'Albus is a good person' is still not a given in this fandom. The incorrect takes have so deeply permeated the meta discussions that it is very easy to find fics without any labels that honestly need the manipulative tag, even though the authors would probably argue you down about how "problematic" Albus is if you engaged them in dialogue.

(Example necessary probably, but just try to find a Harry/Hermione fic where Hermione doesn't randomly bash Dumbledore and act like she, a teenager or twenty-something, knows better than him, even though canon Hermione had the correct takes about Dumbledore the entire series. Check and I guarantee you that a good portion of them won't even tag manipulative Dumbledore, especially if it's a post-war fic and he's not alive. Incorrect takes abound. :'/)

I think the people who use the Good Albus tag know that water is wet just like you and I do. They know Albus is—well, really morally gray in many aspects, but a good person overall. But these authors are saying, "there has to be some counterbalance. People reading my fics should know that I am presenting the character as he is, and not as I presume him to be".

I personally haven't used the Good!Albus tag because my fics are meant to counter those many false-advertising fics out there that don't tag "I think Albus is as evil and/or controlling as Voldemort" but say that anyway when I try to read them.

As for Regulus Black... don't look at me lol. I think he's an intriguing character—or was before the 'marauders fandom' got their hands on him—but he's not moving any mountains in my fanverse just because his elf was threatened and his feelings got hurt. I'll stick to focusing on Albus.

[imjustavenuxwithaboomerang]

no yeah i really love how every core 4 member got a real happy ending....except for ej

nini is happily pursuing music in la with her moms' full support

ricky is dating gina, a girl he calls "home". he's finally becoming more at peace with love and how to show it. he's learned how to not run from his problems. his parents are getting back together (???) and his drama teacher wrote such a good letter of recommendation that he was accepted into a community college

gina becomes a literal movie star and was able to change the filming location of her second movie, without any consequences, to salt lake so she can physically be with ricky, the boy she finally got to date after crushing on him since the day they met. she has a permanent home to call her own now. her mom finally showed up to an opening night and she was finally able to portray gabriella

and then ej...is alone (in a wildcat sense) at college, financially cut off from his family, working multiple jobs to afford it. he spends most of his season 4 screentime guiding and helping others (ricky, gina, miss jenn, madlyn) instead of an actual storyline and a lot of his lines were about how he's made mistakes and has to live with them

[juniperpyre]

two of the flaws i like to give james is that he's paternalistic and trusts the system. tw using political theory to talk about harry potter unironically

he def has a sense of superiority, but not in the way that he believes he's worth more than all other people—just those he hates. i mean, that's not a radical position. what did he ever do to you, it's more that he exists. that's viewing some people as ontologically evil, which, again, is not radical in a liberatory sort of way

james hated dark magic more than anything. but remus is a dark creature, but no, that doesn't count because he's categorized wrong. not because the binary of dark/light is wrong. he's still functioning within the current hegemonic philosophy

so. james operates within the current system, he just thinks it needs to change to be more inclusive, and he is a moral guide who sees through the lies. i love these flaws for james, bc they build on canon, explain why he trusts dumbledore to his death, and create tension with all of his closest friends. it's a realistic perspective for a teenager to have, too. i'm sure he would've grown out of it if he lived

[oneluckygoose]

House of the Rising Suns

Chapter three is now out!!!

I think the word hat appears like 40 times in this, but we're doing great.

It's my favorite chapter yet and I almost cried while writing it! Remus is just a heartbreaking little boy.

This chapter is the sorting told through Sirius, Lily, Remus, and Peter(!!!)'s eyes. You're in for a ride.

OK anyway, enjoy!!!

First chapter: Dear Minerva

Lordie Jesus the restraint I have to have to keep from completely spoiling all of this is wild. I want to tell yall so many things and I just UGH.

[mrsthunderkin]

Oh to be sleepy and soft

Lily belongs to @whaledamnit

[ayyponine]

not to be a milennial but harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban really is that bitch....