#harry potter worldbuilding

[maxdibert]

Feelings around Snape now are so, so different to how they were in 2007 when the final book was released (though there was a fair amount of infuriating sexual assault apologia on LiveJournal back then too). I do think that the predominant factor in the baffling online discourse around Snape over the last decade is the American cultural disconnect with Britain. Anglophone countries, but totally different societies. Current American dominance wins out on the internet platforms used for fandom. The unwillingness to consider the nuances in a ostracised boy who flirts with a fascist cult while looking for purpose definitely seems rooted in America’s extraordinarily polarised political environment. The ‘incel’ label incorrectly applied to Snape is based entirely on American archetypes of the male school shooter who couldn’t get a girlfriend.

I saw infinite dismayed reactions to the rumoured casting along the lines of ‘but if they cast Snape as a black man I’ll have to sympathise with him!’ which basically sums the disconnect up. The industrial history of 1970s Britain isn’t on mainstream fandom’s radar, everything is seen through the prism of America’s particular flavour of identity politics.

I completely agree, and in fact, this is something I’ve been thinking about for a while. It’s not at all a coincidence that the most fervent Snape haters I encounter online—or at least those who fail to understand how class dynamics work—are primarily from the States. And I say from the States because this doesn’t seem to be the case with people from Latin America, whose societies were colonized under a strong framework of social classes and strata due to the influence of Spanish imperialism at the time, in addition to being victims of multiple dictatorships, authoritarian regimes, and narco-governments. This gives people in Latin America a broader social perspective.

The States' people ones (because United States is not America, America is a whole continent and as a spanish person with a lot of Latin American friends i find quite disrespectful to call United States people Americans as if they where the only americans in the world lol) operate under a neoliberal worldview that is very different from this and also very different from Europe’s perspective on class struggle. Europe experienced fascism, and it’s Europeans who understand how fascism rose to power—not as something driven purely by economic elites suddenly deciding to start killing people, but as deeply populist political movements widely accepted by the social majority and even by much of the working class. These movements used propaganda to push rhetoric that fed into people’s needs and promised to address their economic and social problems.

This provides an objective perspective on how voting for Hitler or joining the Hitler Youth didn’t automatically make someone an inhuman monster. It was something that regular people, everyday individuals, did—people who didn’t necessarily have a vile or ruthless intent toward anyone but believed in a particular discourse and rhetoric. Understanding this is crucial for grasping how a character like Snape could end up joining the Death Eaters. But if you’re, I don’t know, living in a small town in Wisconsin and all you know is that it’s trendy to call any Trump supporter a Nazi and that everything is “Nazi” without having the slightest idea of what a Nazi really is, then you end up buying into a ridiculously simplistic narrative without any critical thinking or thorough analysis of the social and economic contexts that drive a society toward far-right ideologies.

I’m sorry, but they’re living in parallel realities. At the end of the day, the Harry Potter series, no matter how politically clueless Rowling is or how much her worldview is utterly bourgeois and biased, is still British. Britain is in Europe, and fascism was experienced in Britain just as it was in the rest of Europe. Similarly, Britain remains a parliamentary monarchy with a class system that isn’t based solely on economics and where a person’s value isn’t measured solely by their wealth but also by their lineage. It’s an aristocratic society, and aristocracy will always rank above the bourgeoisie. These people truly don’t understand this, nor do they make the slightest effort to try. And if they don’t do their homework, honestly, their opinions are worthless garbage.

[therealvinelle]

In book 6 the memories involving the Gaunts involve dialogue in Parseltongue. Given that Dumbledore understands what's been said do you think he's secretly a Parselmouth too or did he just study it / use some magical translator?

Given how fond Dumbledore is of jumping to conclusions, I don't think the man needs to understand a damn word to decide he knows exactly what just occurred. Besides, the Gaunts, bless them, weren't subtle. Morfin revealed something Merope desperately didn't want him to, something to do with the handsome Muggle he'd attacked, and whatever he said provoked Marvolo into attacking her in front of a Ministry worker. Shortly after Merope seizes the opportunity to elope with said Muggle.

It's one of those scenes in a foreign language movie you can more or less follow even if it isn't subtitled.

That being said, it's perfectly possible Dumbledore is a Parselmouth. The Gaunts became an incestuous mess, yes, but Tom Riddle is proof that only one parent carrying the gene is required. All it takes is one Gaunt having a child outside the family (and remember they weren't always what we meet in the shack, for all we know they had a proper house they were evicted from a year before Bob Ogden came to visit. We know less than nothing about these people) and you have someone carrying the gene. So, sure, Dumbledore could have been a Parselmouth, but that's not to say I believe that he is or that he would need to be to understand what Morfin said to Marvolo.

[vulcajes]

I'm gonna discuss the UK class system and how it applies to Harry Potter rq. Read this long ass post at your own risk. Disclaimer, my expertise on this comes from the fact that I'm English born and raised, and I have read up on this extensively. But also, I'm still a dumb teenager so if I get something wrong, feel free to correct me! I love open discussion about this topic and if you have anything to add, feel free to reblog with your own addition or send asks or dm me or comment it!!

I think class when it comes to the wizarding world is so interesting because the way class works in Britain is so interesting. Unlike from what I know of the US, the UK's way of designating what class someone is in isn't really to do with wealth, but more to do with social mobility. This is mostly because we still have royalty and nobility. People who are nobility (ie lords, counts, etc) may have status, but that doesn't necessarily mean they have a lot of wealth. What they have is social mobility. A child of nobility has the chance to get into schools like Eaton or Cheltenham Ladies' and have been raised to get into oxbridge for their entire lives. They have opportunities that non-noble working class children don't have.

This translates to HP in some ways, I think with the divide between the purebloods and the muggleborns. How much knowledge of the wizarding world you were born with is almost equivalent to the social mobility of the real world. The Blacks have a long family history in the wizarding world the way that a noble family has a long family history in Britain. Both would have a lot of influence on politics in the past and their descendants would continue to have that influence as politics and parliament changes. It's not necessarily that either are rich, but they are well-established.

This puts the Weasleys in a strange position. They are a poorer family (and are mocked for it), but they're still purebloods. They have more social status than people like Hermione or Remus or any other muggleborns and halfbloods but presumably less wealth. I think in the real world, this would translate to a noble family that has lost all its wealth, or particularly poor counts. But what matters is that they are still upper class, especially in comparison to the Grangers in the wizarding world.

Halfblood families like the Lupins or Finnigans could be seen as middle class in some ways. Whilst they're disadvantaged by the muggle part of them in the wizarding world, they still have some access and familiarity with it through the wizarding parent.

The blood purity debates can also be quite easily translated to anti-working class sentiments expressed in Britain in the 70s and 80s. Voldemort could be linked to Oswald Moseley in some ways with their fascist groups and beliefs. The majority of order members being non-purebloods is also important to me for this very reason. The working class did rise up against the fascists, and they were the main body to fight against them. There was little unrest in the upper classes, which is mirrored in a lot of the purebloods, who whilst may not be Death Eaters themselves (like the majority of the Black family) but were certainly sympathetic towards Moseley's causes (like the Black family once more). I suppose the few upper-class people who resented the fascist uprise would be represented in the Potters and Weasleys.

[haunting-hufflepuffs-basement]

Thoughts for the day:

Voldemort is a DnD lich. Send tweet.

[feralpangolin]

Accents are a thing

When compared to the posh and proper British way of speaking, Charlie sticks out like a sore thumb. Not only is her accent blatantly Cowboy American tm, but her vocabulary is much more lax and casual (unless she’s in her “Lord Slytherin” headspace, in which case she deliberately tries to emulate all the rich assholes she sees). Her words drawl together (ain’t’ve), sounds dropped due to the Texan twang, and that doesn’t even account for how occasionally her “s” sounds are accompanied by undertones of hissing.

Her Parsel isn’t much better in terms of comprehension, and in fact if any learned speakers heard her talk, they’d say that it’s the most incomprehensible thing they’d ever heard. Natural Parselmouths are only just barely able to understand her. Parseltongue is a difficult language to learn, and it really is only taught in the tones and hisses of snakes. But it encompasses ALL serpents, including dragons (and basilisks…chimeras…you get the gist). Charlie has a distinctly draconic influence in her Parsel accent— it sounds almost more guttural and gravely during moments while high and chirpy in others. And somehow, against all odds, she still manages to have a semblance of Texan twang in it. God bless Texas.

[sofiadragon]

This is very similar to my own headcanon. I reason that the very fun to say Houppelande from medieval Europe is the source garment for European wizard fashion. This robe-like garment was for men and women and worked a bit like a Kimono in that if you gained or lost some weight or the seasons changed you just belted and folded it to fit and added layers as needed to fit the temperature.

I used to work in the fashion industry directly under the CEO of a regional store selling "bridge" formal, office, and lounge wear (the price point between couture high fashion and the mass produced stuff, aimed at the upper middle class.) She was the primary buyer for the shop, and I learned a fair amount about fashion trends and history while being a gopher and later a bookeeper working directly with suppliers.

Buff and Navy for the Boys:

Modern western men's fashion only got drab looking rather recently. Blame or credit Beau Brummell for that. The bright colors, embroidery, and satin weave fabrics that we see worn by historical drawings of men and still today in a lot of other cultures were the norm for Western men for most of time. (And seem to be making a comeback.) The modern men's suit is part of the "male renunciation" that rejected all gaudy, ostentatious, and lacy clothing for men. The idea was to be less noticeable for the complexity of what you wore, with the neckwear being the focal point of creative expression, and still today many men who wear suits to work in an office only have non-neutral colors on their necktie. It was all a limited (duller) color palate, and aside for pinstripes no patters or embroidery at all for formal or high fashion clothing for men. Brummell would have been disgusted with the Weasley Twins' fashion choices once they became businessmen.

Robes for All Occasions and Genders

In a world that wasn't heavily influenced by the development of the modern suit by a common muggle man, and indeed seeing a culture that seems to use jewelry and accessories like ties or purses to gender clothing rather than having a radically different base garment, we see that men still wear gaudy, ostentatious, and eye-catching clothing. Delicate lace is out of fashion in the 90's, and we can assume from comments the kids make about Archie the Outlier and other elders like Dumbledore that while not fully out of fashion extremely busy or high-contrast color patterns are on the way out. However, they do seem to be on the way out in general as none of the younger women wear them either. Things tend to be about coordinating or blending shades of a color, or having metallic accents, and not layering lavender on yellow or wearing midnight blue with orange stars as Dumbledore's generation does. The twins get new clothes that are in orange and purple when they become businessmen, but a lot of fanart and the movies takes it to mean one wears orange and the other wears purple - two very bold color choices that while eye catching are not out of line with young men's fashion elsewhere in the series. Additionally, those outfits match the branding on their products so the high-contrast color combination, should they be wearing orange-on-purple and purple-on-orange may be more of a marketing ploy and less 'on trend.' Of course, they could be using the day's hottest fashion as part of their branding, too, with highly saturated color being the thing that young men want to wear. Think peacock. 🦚

Draco, who we can be reasonably sure is wearing the finest fashion money can buy, is in very fine quality fabrics with generally dark colors even when not in the school mandated black work robe. While it is possibly for literary themeing, the people who have Dark-aligned politics tend to wear darker colors and the Lighter aligned people wear lighter colors. Jewel tones are frequently mentioned and we see far fewer pastels described as pastels than we do "faded" or "graying" items that are losing their color.

Wizarding clothing and fashion

This meta/list of HCs has been sitting in my drafts for a while. But here is my meta about wizarding fashions. 

1.0 An insular culture with its own unique dress

No shade to people who enjoy seeing and drawing characters in muggle clothing, but I think that the majority of wizards and witches dress in wizarding clothing. 

Indeed, the fact that most wizards can’t dress as muggles and are quite conspicuous is mentioned in the first chapter of the series: 

“People in cloaks. Mr. Dursley couldn’t bear people who dressed in funny clothes — the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion.” PS 

And then becomes a sort of running joke: 

“Both were dressed as Muggles, though very inexpertly: The man with the watch wore a tweed suit with thigh-length galoshes; his colleague, a kilt and a poncho” GoF

And in DH it is (partly) how Harry recognises that people are watching Grimmauld Place: 

“The lurkers were never the same two days running, although they all seemed to share a dislike for normal clothing. Most of the Londoners who passed them were used to eccentric dressers and took little notice, though occasionally one of them might glance back, wondering why anyone would wear such long cloaks in this heat.” DH

Side note: it is peak Londoner to barely take notice of something odd. And this also implies that robes and cloaks are all year wear and that wizards potentially don’t have seasonal clothing.

Given that wizarding culture is very insular (with its own economy, government, and education system), it would make sense that while it may occasionally borrow trends from the muggle world, wizarding fashion and clothing are unique. 

In fact, only the younger generation are seen in muggle dress, with Harry commenting: 

“Their children might don Muggle clothing during the holidays, but Mr. and Mrs. Weasley usually wore long robes in varying states of shabbiness.” GoF

2.0 Class and generational differences in dress

The previous quote demonstrates two things: much like in real life, there is generational and class stratification of dress. The condition and quality of wizarding clothing serves as a non-verbal cue about a character's economic status. This disparity is not just a background detail but is frequently brought into focus, such as through Draco Malfoy's derisive comments about Professor Lupin's tattered robes.

“ Malfoy gave Professor Lupin an insolent stare, which took in the patches on his robes and the delapidated suitcase.” PoA

“Look at the state of his robes,” Malfoy would say in a loud whisper as Professor Lupin passed. “He dresses like our old house-elf.” PoA

Even Harry comments on his robes and observes that: 

“Professor Lupin looked particularly shabby next to all the other teachers in their best robes”

The patched and frayed nature of both Lupins and Weasley’s robes seem to indicate that robe repairs can’t be done by an individual (or when it is done, it is really visible). Another example of this is when Ron removes the lace from his dress robes and leaves: 

“...the edges still looked depressingly frayed as the boys set off downstairs.” GoF

Additionally,  in Padfoot returns Sirius’s prison robes still appear tatty despite him having had a haircut and left the country. This indicates that he either can’t obtain new robes or can’t/hasn’t bothered repairing his Azkaban robes. 

This is interesting, given that Molly Weasley is able to make jumpers and scarves yet can’t seem to alter robes. While knitting and sewing are separate skills, it seems odd that there aren’t means of repairing robes. 

This suggests that robes can only be repaired and bought at official vendors such as Madam Malkins/Gladrags/Twifitt and Tattings. 

 It is also interesting that both Fred and George buy clothing when they become successful (also a parallel to the real world). They gift their mum:

“….a brand-new midnight blue witch’s hat glittering with what looked like tiny starlike diamonds, and a spectacular golden necklace.”  HBP

However, things being ‘frayed’ aren’t always an indication of poverty. Tonks is first introduced wearing an outfit that is a mix of muggle clothing but with something that is distinctly wizarding: 

“Tonks stood just behind him…. wearing heavily patched jeans and a bright purple T-shirt bearing the legend THE WEIRD SISTERS.” OoTP

This outfit is heavily reminiscent of Sirius and James in the Elvendork prequel: 

 “Both were dressed in T-shirts emblazoned with a large golden bird; the emblem, no doubt, of some deafening, tuneless rock band.”

3.0 The underwear question

Something that gets bought up a lot is whether wizards wear underwear. 

Harry (who was raised by muggles certainly seems to): 

“He was just piling underwear into his cauldron when Ron made a loud noise of disgust behind him.” GoF 

And:

“He was shivering now, his teeth chattering horribly, and yet he continued to strip off until at last he stood there in his underwear…”  DH

So does Neville (in the UK, Pants means underwear)

“He broke off as Neville entered the dormitory, bringing with him a strong smell of singed material, and began rummaging in his trunk for a fresh pair of pants.”

And infamously, so does Snape: 

“Snape was hanging upside down in the air, his robes falling over his head to reveal skinny, pallid legs and a pair of graying underpants.”

Also we get some information about witch’s underwear from Sirius’s very Freudian joke: 

“Sirius looked slightly disconcerted for a moment, then said, “I’ll look for him later, I expect I’ll find him upstairs crying his eyes out over my mother’s old bloomers.”

Bloomers are a type of historical, baggy underpants (think boy shorts, but make it victorian). 

In conclusion, Archie, who wanted a breeze around his privates, was probably an outlier.  

4.0 Materials and accesories

So what is wizarding clothing made of? 

For robes and cloaks the materials most mentioned are silk/satin and velvet: 

“ She was dressed from head to foot in black satin, and many magnificent opals gleamed at her throat and on her thick fingers.” GoF

Additionally in GoF, we learn that even witches and wizards from other countries wear robes and cloaks: 

“Now that they had removed their furs, the Durmstrang students were revealed to be wearing robes of a deep bloodred.” 

And 

“...Bulgarian minister loudly, who was wearing splendid robes of black velvet trimmed with gold.”

Other materials include Dragon hide which appears to be used to make practical gloves and boots but also fashionable jackets. 

“... followed by Fred and George, who were wearing jackets of black dragon skin.” HBP

Additionally, robes can be embroidered: 

“ The man’s scowling, slightly brutish face was somehow at odds with his magnificent, sweeping robes, which were embroidered with much gold thread” DH

“Harry glimpsed Slughorn at the head of the Slytherin column, wearing magnificent, long, emerald green robes embroidered with silver” HBP

“Madam Rosmerta scurrying down the dark street toward them on high-heeled, fluffy slippers, wearing a silk dressing gown embroidered with dragons.” HBP

Interestingly, both men and women appear to wear heels: 

Dumbledore: 

“He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots” PS

Madame Maxine: 

“Then Harry saw a shining, high-heeled black shoe emerging from the inside of the carriage..” GoF

Monsiour Delacour: 

“However, he looked good-natured. Bouncing toward Mrs. Weasley on high-heeled boots, he kissed her twice on each cheek, leaving her flustered.” DH

Madame Rosmerta: 

“ Next he saw another pair of feet, wearing sparkly turquoise high heels,” POA

Furthermore, witches carry handbags: 

“Mrs. Weasley now came galloping into view, her handbag swinging wildly” COS

“ She was wearing a thick magenta cloak with a furry purple collar today, and her crocodile-skin handbag was over her arm.”  GoF

“Professor Umbridge pulled a small roll of pink parchment out of her handbag”  OoTP

“Ron was rummaging through the little witch’s handbag.” DH

5.0 My HCs

When I imagine what male robes look like, I imagine something akin to a Morrcan thobe or an Indian Sherwani.

I imagine robes to be enchanted to move and in my fic Pietas, I describe my OC Aeliana’s robes as follows: 

“She smiled slightly, smoothing the front of her dress, which was decorated with embroidered flowers and birds that had been enchanted to flutter their wings.”

I also HC some cultural variance in robes- with certain countries using different cloth or the skin of magical animals that are native to their countries. With hotter countries, having lighter robes and cooling/anti-perspiration charms.

[pangaeaseas]

Magic Is Masculinity: Or, Lucius Malfoy and How the Wand Makes the Man

One thing I'm always interested in thinking about in HP fic is how to realistically create a society with different mores from our own. If you take the premise that pureblood especially and overall wizarding culture more broadly is different from 1990s Muggle British society seriously, you must consider where social norms differ from 90s muggle norms. I personally am interested in the idea that pureblood families tend to live in multi-generational households with extended families rather than in a nuclear family, for instance, though I don't think this was JKR's intention (but who cares it's interesting). You could claim that LGBTQ+ people are more or less accepted than 90s Britain, depending on what you want to do with your story--and you could also consider that the wizarding world might have completely different definitions of sexuality (like, for example, the Roman use of penetrator vs non-penetrator as the main sexual binary). And we know that what is defined as masculinity and femininity varies massively across time and place.

So I want to think about how gender roles might differ in the wizarding world. There was a post I saw recently that discussed the idea of Sirius feeling affirmed in exploring femininity by being seen as feminine by Muggles while wearing robes, which I thought was a really interesting idea (and one that could apply to any character exploring gender). Of course the essential premise there is that something Muggles read as feminine--robes--are actually an essential aspect of Wizarding masculinity (see that guy who likes a nice healthy breeze round his privates in GoF).

So what else defines Wizarding masculinity? We can go absolutely wild! But I think there's a lot of canonical basis for the idea that one essential part of being a wizard and a man is having access to and control over one's own wand. This raises interesting questions about how characters who can't control their wands might be seen as emasculated (like Ron in CoS and Neville pre-HBP), and is also significant with regards to Voldemort's search for a wand that will allow him to fight Harry, and the period when Harry's wand is broken. So I'd love if people did additional analysis on this topic. But I'm going to specifically discuss the case of Lucius Malfoy, because I think he's a very clear example of how you need to have a wand to be a man.

"The faces around him displayed nothing but shock; he might have announced that he wanted to borrow one of their arms. “No volunteers?” said Voldemort. “Let’s see . . . Lucius, I see no reason for you to have a wand anymore.” Lucius Malfoy looked up. His skin appeared yellowish and waxy in the firelight, and his eyes were sunken and shadowed. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse. “My Lord?” “Your wand, Lucius. I require your wand.” “I . . .” Malfoy glanced sideways at his wife. She was staring straight ahead, quite as pale as he was, her long blonde hair hanging down her back, but beneath the table her slim fingers closed briefly on his wrist. At her touch, Malfoy put his hand into his robes, withdrew a wand, and passed it along to Voldemort, who held it up in front of his red eyes, examining it closely. “What is it?” “Elm, my Lord,” whispered Malfoy. “And the core?” “Dragon — dragon heartstring.” “Good,” said Voldemort. He drew out his own wand and compared the lengths. Lucius Malfoy made an involuntary movement; for a fraction of a second, it seemed he expected to receive Voldemort’s wand in exchange for his own. The gesture was not missed by Voldemort, whose eyes widened maliciously. “Give you my wand, Lucius? My wand?” Some of the throng sniggered. “I have given you your liberty, Lucius, is that not enough for you? But I have noticed that you and your family seem less than happy of late. . . . What is it about my presence in your home that displeases you, Lucius?” “Nothing — nothing, my Lord!” “Such lies, Lucius . . .” (Chapter 1, DH)

Having a wand is compared to having an arm: it's an essential part of a wizard's body. All the Death Eaters are shocked by the request. (Interestingly, we know of only two confirmed female Death Eaters, Bellatrix and Alecto Carrow. Bellatrix says that she would gladly give up any SONS specifically to the Dark Lord's service in HBP. This might imply that the Death Eaters are intended to be a majority male organization (though I personally like to explore the idea of there being more female Death Eaters) and so these are men specifically being affronted).

Before his wand is taken, it is specifically mentioned that Lucius appears ill--pale and waxen and yellow. Control of the body and good health is often seen as a crucial sign of masculinity. Lucius has lost this--he cannot control his own body--and is about to lose an important signal of his masculinity, his wand.

Voldemort is also treating Lucius as a child who's transgressed: there is 'no reason for him to have a wand anymore'--Voldemort doesn't respect Lucius's right to have a wand, like he's a child who isn't in control of his own decisions. A main throughline of Lucius's treatment since OOTP is Voldemort's interest in punishing him. This involves reducing him to a child to be ordered around, who can't be trusted with a wand. He treats Lucius as someone deeply beholden to him: Lucius having a wand and having liberty are dependent on Voldemort, instead of characteristics of an adult man with social authority. Voldemort is the patriarch of the Death Eater family.

Voldemort seems to enjoy humiliating him in front of the other Death Eaters: he could have asked him nicely as an equal in private, but he makes a spectacle of it, asking for volunteers he knows won't be appearing, only to single out Lucius and then mock any pretensions he might have to exchanging wands, then intimidating and terrifying him by questioning his loyalty (and the loyalty of his family, which thus insults Lucius's ability as a patriarch). The wand length comparison also serves no real purpose but to emasculate Lucius.

Immediately after taking the wand, Vodlemort also brings up Tonks's marriage to Remus to insult Lucius, Narcissa, and Bellatrix--another insult to Lucius's abilities as a patriarch as he cannot stop his family members from shaming the family through marriage choices. Again, it is delberate that Voldemort does this so soon after taking Lucius's wand. Now that Lucius is wandless, his masculine authority can be questioned.

Lucius clearly wants later to reclaim this lost authority --and implicitly his sense of his own masculinity.

When the Trio is captured, Lucius is extremely excited. He appears to be motivated by a desire to lessen his punishment (which involved Voldemort taking his wand, and said wand being destroyed by Harry):

"Harry had never heard Lucius Malfoy so excited. “Draco, if we are the ones who hand Potter over to the Dark Lord, everything will be forgiv —” “Now, we won’t be forgetting who actually caught him, I hope, Mr. Malfoy?” said Greyback menacingly." (DH)

Greyback says 'Mr. Malfoy' in a menacing way: it seems to be belittling him, reminding him that he doesn't actually have that much power in this scene compared to Greyback, who actually captured them by his own efforts compared to Lucius passively waiting for something to improve his situation. Greyback may be saying 'Mr. Malfoy' to say: all you have is your social position, compared to me--you might have the title of 'mr' but you don't have a wand and you don't have the power to act, so I am more masculine and can threaten you.

It's also really interesting how Narcissa is directing Lucius and Draco in this scene: she greets Greyback and brings him in, she refers to Draco as her son only, she is the first one to instruct Draco to examine them. Malfoy Manor might be Lucius's home, it has his name, but Narcissa appears to act as patriarch in this scene: it's her home, her son, she is greeting visitors and taking command, and she is the one to say 'we need to be sure and shouldn't immediately summon Voldemort' and the one to identify Hermione. This might be the typical Malfoy family dynamic, it might be because Narcissa is the one who still has a wand.

Then Bellatrix comes in, and she orders both Lucius and Narcissa around. She also asks Narcissa what happened, treating her as the leader of the family. Now Bellatrix has always hated Lucius, they certainly didn't seem to get along well during the DoM battle. But here she's just contemptuous of him, and provides key evidence for my wand-equals-masculinity theory.

"“I was about to call him!” said Lucius, and his hand actually closed upon Bellatrix’s wrist, preventing her from touching the Mark. “I shall summon him, Bella, Potter has been brought to my house, and it is therefore upon my authority —” “Your authority!” she sneered, attempting to wrench her hand from his grasp. “You lost your authority when you lost your wand, Lucius! How dare you! Take your hands off me!” “This is nothing to do with you, you did not capture the boy —” " (DH)

Lucius lost his authority when he lost his wand. He is no longer the patriarch, the master of the house, specifically because he does not have a wand: Bellatrix then goes on to order Draco around, which Narcissa protests because it's 'her house': a striking contrast to Voldemort calling it Lucius's house in the first chapter, before he took the wand, and to Lucius trying to call it his house. While Lucius has a wand it's his house, but when his is taken it become's Narcissa's (though of course she is talking to her sister about herself, so you don't necessarily have to read that much into it). Interestingly, Bellatrix doesn't give orders to Lucius: maybe because she just doesn't like or trust him but maybe because he doesn't have a wand and is thus useless.

The whole concept of authority in HP--and Lucius, owner of Malfoy Manor, husband and father, has specifically patriarchal authority as Head of his family--is linked to having a wand. Lucius seems to have expected to be able to exercise some control over Bellatrix as a fellow Death Eater and as his sister-in-law who appears to be living with him, but she rejects this possibility by saying he can't control her as a male patriarch might because he doesn't have a wand. Thus he is failing to meet the requirements of being a patriarch in wizarding society. Bellatrix can do whatever she wants in his house, and he has no way of stopping her. She seems to have replaced him as patriarch of the Malfoy family.

The linkage of masculinity with authority with having a wand is made extremely clear through Bellatrix's line. By taking Lucius's wand, Voldemort removed the last semblance of authority and masculinity he had, to humiliate and emasculate him for losing the diary and the prophecy (and I think the broader narrative is doing this to Lucius at least a little as well, he becomes more pathetic and pitiable, because in JKR's view of gender pity is for women).

Later, Lucius's role as a Death Eater has clearly been reduced: Voldemort dismisses his suggestions around the Battle of Hogwarts as only being concerned for his son, and assigns him the menial task of fetching Snape. He has been reduced from advisor to fetch-and-carrier. Lucius's last appearance on page is NOT fighting in the Battle of Hogwarts, appearing only concerned with his son (and JKR often associates concern with a child only over any other concerns with maternity and femininity, but that's another post).

In working on this meta I also had a lot of thoughts about warrior masculinity through martial magic in the Wizarding World, and the idea of a Death Eater specific masculine warrior ideal, but that's another post LMAO. I hope this has been helpful in imagining how magic might affect gender roles!

[saintsenara]

Do you think harry is more similar to lily or James

thank you very much for the ask, anon!

i think the assessment of harry's character which dumbledore gives to snape in deathly hallows is more or less the correct one:

“He is his father over again -”  “In looks, perhaps, but his deepest nature is much more like his mother’s.”

which i think can be expanded upon really interestingly as an example of something which the series does really, really well - how it obscures the fact that lily is the key to the mystery right up until the last minute.

the things harry has in common with james - not only his looks, but his quidditch talent, his impulsivity, his disregard for the rules, his arrogance, his cunning, his beef with snape, his adoration of sirius, his belief that his uncle is faintly ridiculous, and his bold, flashy courage - are big and explicit and demonstrative, and the text lampshades that they're inherited from his father at every opportunity.

[and not only in how many characters mention that he looks like james. voldemort - for example - mentions james' demonstrative bravery - facing him "like a man" - every time he and harry interact; sirius and lupin never mention lily when discussing harry's personality, even when what they're talking about is how he's not like james.]

the text also goes out of its way to suggest that similarly big aspects of lily's character have not been inherited by her son - the most obvious example of which is that, in half-blood prince, the incandescent talent at potions which has slughorn raving about how like his mother harry is... is actually the result of harry cheating [and cheating from a textbook he's convinced for much of the book might have belonged to james].

the only thing the text emphasises again and again that harry has inherited from his mother are his eyes.

and - in doing this - the series is actually telling us something very clear about what it understands harry to have in common with lily.

eyes are a frequent motif throughout the text, which are almost always connected to the themes of authenticity and truth.

dumbledore's eyes give away his true feelings in goblet of fire - when the "gleam of something like triumph" comes into them after he learns that voldemort used harry's blood to resurrect himself - before serving as a metaphor for the way the information about the prophecy is being withheld from harry in order of the phoenix when he refuses to make eye contact with him.

[dumbledore's eyes also stop "twinkling" after voldemort returns, in a sign of how serious the situation - which the ministry never appreciates the full gravity of - is becoming.]

occlumency and legilimency - the obscuring and seeking of truth - depend on eye contact. the teenage tom riddle's eyes - with their gleam of red - give away his true depravity, even when he's still outwardly charming and beautiful. the teen snape sees the reason for his obsession with the marauders "wrenched from him against his will" at the force of lily's glare [and the adult snape frequently averts his own gaze from harry when he clearly doesn't want to risk seeing anger or pain in lily's eyes]. ginny's love for harry - her "never giving up" on him, her willingness to wait and endure while he goes off on the horcrux hunt - is communicated by a "blazing look". the basilisk kills by looking - but doesn't kill anyone in chamber of secrets, since the truth about the culprit isn't known. and so on...

which is to say - the series regards the eyes as the windows to the soul [an idea which is connected to a verse in chapter six of the gospel of matthew - the verse immediately preceding which, "for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also", is inscribed upon kendra and ariana dumbledore's graves] and to the true, inner nature of a person.

in mentioning again and again that harry looks like james except for his eyes, what the narrative is doing is hinting to the reader that harry's big, obvious, showy similarities with his father mustn't let them miss that the more subtle traits of his personality - his steadfastness, his quiet courage in the face of hopelessness, his ability to love so much it changes the entire course of history - come from his mother, and that what he inherits from lily will be much more important to the resolution of the story than the things he inherits from james.

this is a clue it plays with really nicely - particularly because harry doesn't really care at any point prior to the last third of deathly hallows about what he inherits from lily more than he cares about what he inherits from james.

we - as readers - go through his experience of learning that his mother is the key to the whole mystery in real time - when we join harry in snape's memories - and we walk into the forest with a harry who now knows the whole truth: that he's more like his mother than he's previously realised, and that he'll therefore be able to do the same thing that she did, and die so that others might live.

“You won’t be killing anyone else tonight,” said Harry as they circled, and stared into each other’s eyes, green into red. “You won’t be able to kill any of them ever again.”

[wisteria-lodge]

Gender and Harry Potter is such a hydra that just keeps revealing more heads the more you try and chop through it. Case in point: Today I just realized Harry Potter might've been originally intended as a book for boys, which if it was *wow*, way to miss the mark Joanne. Do you think it was actually intended for a male audience? To me it kinda makes sense if it was because of the way most women and girls are portrayed in it.

Bloomsbury Publishing definitely requested that JK Rowling publish with her (gender neutral) initials instead of 'Joanne Rowling' because they were concerned boys would not buy a book with a woman's name on the cover.

My guess is that her British publishers slotted it more firmly under 'boy' than her American publishers did. Harry Potter is 100% a school story, a super established British children's book genre. Historically, there are boy school stories (set in all-male posh public schools) and girl school stories (set in all-female posh public schools.) Hogwarts is of course co-ed, but that fact that it comes out of a literary tradition in which all the characters are the same gender... might help explain why in-universe gender politics seem remarkably absent from the wizarding world.

It actually kind of bugs me, when a canon-compliant fic makes a big deal about male-only inheritance or something, because that's just not something we see. There's one line about "Black family tradition" saying that the house goes to the next oldest guy, but since Dumbledore is worried that *Bellatrix* is about to inherit, it clearly isn't that important.

JKR has made a fantasy society where gender doesn't really matter - Augusta Longbottom and Walburga Black are clearly the powerful matriarchs of their respective families, Maxime and McGonagall are headmistresses, no problem. There isn't the boys quidditch team vs girl's quidditch team, the locker rooms and the prefects bathroom seem to be co-ed, "robes" are gender neutral, there isn't a sense that a specific discipline or type of magic is gendered (we see both male and female Transfiguration, Care of Magical creatures, and Defense Against the Dark arts professors...) There is kind of a sense that the boys are supposed to ask the girls to the yule ball... but multiple girls still ask out Harry. Gender comes up a lot in these books yes, but not so much in the actual worldbuilding. We have gendered bathrooms and dorms, and the rule that the girls can go into the boy's dormitory, but not vice-versa. Ron considers lace a girly fabric. Of the top of my head, that's all of the "gendered" rules I can think of.

But, since the main character is a boy, it makes sense that her British publishers would slot it more into the category of "school story (boy)" and market accordingly. I think it's extremely likely that she was asked to lean more heavily into quidditch, an aspect of the world building that JKR is clearly not interested in. She's said multiple times that she dislikes writing quidditch games - which is why she throws in comedy with the commentary, or makes some magical thing go down, or finds ways to cancel quidditch entirely. The mechanics and tension of the game *itself* are not interesting to her. I think it's also possible this is a reason for Hermione's relatively late intro into the friend group during Book 1? Harry can be friends with a girl, but first we need to establish that Ron is his *best* friend.

But then the books hit America, and the whole "school story" thing didn't read as "boy" as much as it just read "British." There was a sense in American advertising, especially in the 90s, that girl's products were for girls, but boy's products were for everyone. Scholastic Publishing seemed less interested in gendering the book, and more interested in making sure it didn't come off as too high-brow to American children - so we get the name change from "Philosopher's Stone" to "Sorcerer's Stone," things like that.

But then right before the publication of Book 4 the series exploded, and JKR could have just self-published the thing if her publishers didn't behave. So I think that you can see the fingerprints of that marketing push on Book 1, which grandfathered in a number of worldbuilding choices that JKR maybe wouldn't have made later. But pretty quickly it just became JKR doing her thing.

[ourunsungheroes42344]

But trying to write one is soo hard, you don't really realize how inconsistent the worldbuilding is in canon until you're trying to do research for a fic and you realize oh wait, that's fanon.

Examples off the top of my head:

Heir and Lordships

The Ancient and Most Noble House of - it's literally just a name the Blacks gave themselves, no other house has this

Pureblood Culture/Customs

Blocks and Compulsions

Magical Guardians - how TF did Harry end up at the Dursley's and why was it Dumbledore's decision

House Crest/Colors - Not within Hogwarts

House/Blood Magic and Rites - I, Harry James Potter Lord of House Potter blah blah blah

Wards and Wardstones

The Wizengamot

Muggleborns - and their introduction to the Wizarding World

Muggleborn Orphans - on that same note

Class schedules at Hogwarts (a lot of the confusion around this can be blamed on the movies, but still, trying to write a story based on a student in another house other than Gryffindor is impossible and even Gryffindor isn't easy)

Do wizards have wills?

And so much more...

Comment others below!

the hp fics where they go in depth into world building like wizarding politics or rituals or dark magic will always be superior

[maxdibert]

As a German I genuinely wonder what muggleborns were doing during ww2, like not even the adult wizards I mean the kids going to school and seeing the Jewish muggleborns and stuff?? Like???

As a Spaniard, I can’t help but wonder what the hell happened to Muggle-borns during our Civil War? Did they go to the French school alongside the children of people from the opposing side? And what about the 40 years of dictatorship? Could the son of a high-ranking regime official go to school with the child of someone who had been executed or imprisoned for political reasons?

Like, wtf, Rowling? This is basic 20th-century European history. How do you not consider this? The woman lived in Portugal, and Portugal had its own dictatorship until 1974. Germany was split in two after WWII. Half of Europe was under Soviet rule. Maybe it’s just that I studied politics and think about these things more, but seriously aren’t these topics you literally study in high school???

[therealvinelle]

assuming Harry died in the graveyard in book 4 as planned what was voldemorts original plan to do next do u think?

I think we saw the gist of it in canon.

He laid low, let those who believed a long dead dark wizard had somehow resurrected himself look like fools and conspiracy theorists, and quietly went about rebuilding his movement. He waited to jailbreak his Death Eaters until enough time had passed that it'd wouldn't be immediately connected to his supposed resurrection, and he kept his followers in a tight leash, not making any headlines of any kind.

Consider all that he had to rebuild.

There had been a purge of Death Eaters, Death Eaters sympathizers, and everyone remotely affiliated with him after he fell, the Wizengamot was fast tracking people to Azkaban. Those who escaped wouldn't be rushing to incriminate themselves either.

All his spies, all his agents, his entire network where nobody had known who was or wasn't with him, was shattered, and he was starting worse than scratch because last time, people hadn't known what was coming. This time, he was looking at an uphill battle on every front - rallying sympathy to the cause of the most feared man in modern history is still possible, people can always be convinced what they've heard was wrong and Voldemort has been the victim of merciless slander, but it requires more work. Recruitment when he looks inhuman and like evil incarnate meaning he can't really run the charm offensive anymore, also possible but so much harder than before. Infiltrating the Ministry, amassing political power, again still possible but the thing is he already did this and the people he used then have largely been purged and those who weren't have wisened up.

The second his resurrection is acknowledged, the wizarding world goes into a panic. And as it happens, this worked out wonderfully for Tom since nobody had learned from last time, so rather than wise up they dipped right into crisis mode and restored the social power and influence of a man who had been a wraith for fourteen years after death by failed baby slaughter took him out.

I have to think Tom was surprised by that.

His actions in Half-Blood Prince through the start of Deathly Hallows where he esssentially puts the gradually amass power plan on speed and within the year he's committed a coup, reads to me as a response to that. No point being insidious in those circumstances, in fact he can't without risking that the spell will break and people start wondering just what he's doing.

[vulcajes]

I'm gonna yap/worldbuild a little bit on religion in the wizarding world. All of this is just my own opinion and how religion would play out in my canon-compliant fics/ones set in the wizarding world. Feel free to discuss this further in the comments/reblogs/asks/dms <3

Personally, I don't think religion would exist in the wizarding world. Since wizarding society was originally entirely pureblood, it's safe to assume they've had a massive impact on wizarding culture. To me, it doesn't make sense that a society made of beings who can turn do such incredible things as we see in the books & movies would worship a god/gods.

As for belief in folklore, a lot of folklore is made canon in the hp universe (ie hippogriffs, Merlin, the philosopher's stone, etc). It wouldn't really make sense to me that wizarding society would have a folklore-based religion like was in Scotland, England, Wales, and Ireland. The folklore/mythology from these and other countries are tangible things for them, so I feel that the reasoning for their existence would be lost.

When wizarding society began to expand, and muggleborns and halfbloods became more common, I think the landscape surrounding religion changed a bit. For muggleborns, some of them may not have been raised religiously, but some definitely were (just pure statistics; it's a certainty) and might've been unwilling to abandon religion for the wizarding world. Therefore, when blood purity began to decline in popularity, and non-purebloods were accepted more, wizarding society had to learn how to accept both their atheism and the new beliefs of others in society. I think most of the change would've happened under Nobby Leach (first muggleborn MoM) and would've seen the building of religious temples, protections for religious wizards, etc etc.

There probably would've been some backlash from the more old guard blood purists/those in the house of lords for the wizengamot. The sacred 28 definitely would've held onto their anti-religion beliefs, as would some other prejudiced wizards. Some probably would've seen atheistic non-pureblood wizards as the blueprint; a "they can assimilate, so why can't you?" type of belief. Overall, religion would've been a contentious topic, especially during the periods of war (general bigotry towards muggleborns was more common during the war so it's safe to say religious muggleborns would've been targeted heavily).

[haunting-hufflepuffs-basement]

Actually, it does make sense! The astronomy tower is mentioned to be an off-limits place in the books several times. In the very first book, after dropping off Norbert in there for Charlie's friends for examples. In chapter 14, it says:

"There was no reason on earth that Professor McGonogall would accept for their being out of bed and creeping around the school in the dead of night, let alone being up in the tallest astronomy tower, which was out-of-bounds except for classes."

You're only allowed to be up there during a very easily discovered scheduled time with a teacher. If we look at how frequently both astronomy and the other classes are held, this means that it's probably only open for like, 1 or 2 nights a week, and only for a specific and well-advertised period of time, and only on clear nights. This means that a motley crew of rampant rule-breakers would ABSOLUTELY be using the astronomy tower for fucking everything and that it probably would be empty almost every time, because there's literally no reason for a teacher to be up there on an off-scheduled night.

You also have to climb an awful lot of stairs to get there and it blocks you in without an escape route unless you're talented enough to summon your broom, cushion your fall out the window, or have, say, a map that tells you where every single person in the stupid castle is and intimate knowledge of secret passages you can use. So it also makes sense that only the marauders and marauders adjacent people use it. Others are much better off finding a broom cupboard close to their common room. Not as romantic, but definitely more convenient. You gotta have James Potter level talent and ego to use the Astronomy Tower.

Again, not that it matters cuz we Marauders fans just said "fuck the canon," but I grant you plausible deniability.

Does it make sense for the astronomy tower to always be empty and only used by jegulus/whatever other pairings? N o. Do I care? Also fucking n o

I love that fucking tower

I want everything in that place

I want emotional conversations I want heartbreaking confessions I want soul gutting break ups I want borderline smut

I need everything to happen in that god damn tower

[haunting-hufflepuffs-basement]

Me, explaining to my father that the characterization of the Hogwarts Houses tends to be stupid and 1-dimensional, and not accurate to the way people with their supposed values would actually behave:

"No, but seriously, the way she wrote them, it just boils down to this:"

Gryffindor: protagonist syndrome

Slytherin: racists

Hufflepuff: extras

Ravenclaw: autism

I was then required to go on a separate rant about autistic coded Ravenclaws and how every irl Slytherin I've met has been an empathetic extrovert.

[feralpangolin]

Slytherin and Parsel

Parseltongue, Parselscript, and Parselrune are all languages that regular wixen can learn. It takes time and effort, as learning most languages does, and they’ll always have an accent/trouble pronouncing some words because human vocals aren’t really made to speak Parsel. In fact, in many countries outside of the UK, where snakes and Parsel doesn’t have a bad rep, it’s taught as a second language course, like French and Spanish are. Many Indian and African countries have Parselspeakers. However, being a Parselmouth is different. Parselmouth is an inherent ability to speak and understand all forms of Parsel, and rarely the ability to cast in it. It’s similar to Metamorphmagus in that it’s a family trait, given by family magic. Aside from instant comprehension, Parselmouths anatomy has slight changes that allow for proper pronunciation. In this AU, Parselmouths were introduced into the Slytherin bloodline via a Naga ancestor (half human, half snake). This allowed the Parselmouth trait to become integrated in the family magic, along with the chance for more snake-like or naga traits to appear. For example, if a member of the line is a Parselmouth, they also have a high chance of having fangs, slitted pupils, secondary eyelids, preference to heat over cold, an enhanced sense of smell and olfactory nodes on their tongue, etc etc.

It’s rare for a member of the Slytherin line to have many of these traits, and they often instead have one or two. This is primarily because of the decline of the bloodline through inbreeding and witch hunts. The last person to have all of these traits (and more), was Salazar Slytherin’s granddaughter, Edel, who was the mother of the squib twins that would become ancestors to Charlie and Harry. I imagine on top of the traits previously listed, she would also have scale patches dotting her legs—a callback to the naga roots— a higher propensity for multiple births (homage to snakes and their clutches), and a tiny nub of a snake tail.

I think it would be very fun if Charlie was able to smell magic; some wix can sense magic if they have a high enough sensitivity for it, but that sense tends to be visual or tactile. Charlie’s ability to smell would be a direct relation to her Slytherin bloodline. She can do the thing snakes do, and open her mouth the catch the scents on her tongue. This ability only increased in potency once she claimed Lordship — the family magic enhanced her snake like traits. In a similar vein, I think that once Charlie claimed Harry as family, and named him as Heir, he gained a better sense of smell (but not to the point of smelling magic). His eyes probably got more bright, more Slytherin green, and maybe his bones/joints became a little bit looser to allow for better feats of agility. He probably also got some other traits, but I’m not sure which ones I want to commit to. I think it’d be really funny if he could unhinge his jaw. Just as a little treat.