#hp meta

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Of all the disturbing things that happened to Harry, I think the graveyard scene really takes it. It's horrific on so many different levels, and everytime I read it, something new sticks out to me. The last time, it was the death eaters laughing at Harry. A bunch of grown men laughing at one of the darkest wizards torturing and mocking a fourteen year old. Like it's actually insane, whether they were trying to appease Voldemort or were really entertained by the whole thing.

I know! I feel the same way about that scene. It's really no wonder Harry was as traumatized as he was in OotP (honestly, he's incredibly resilient, all things considered). The graveyard was awful. And their laughing is some of the worst of it:

The Death Eaters were laughing again. Voldemort’s lipless mouth was smiling. Harry did not bow. He was not going to let Voldemort play with him before killing him . . . he was not going to give him that satisfaction. . . . “I said, bow,” Voldemort said, raising his wand — and Harry felt his spine curve as though a huge, invisible hand were bending him ruthlessly forward, and the Death Eaters laughed harder than ever.

(GoF, Ch34)

Especially when you read Harry's thoughts about the Cruciatus and how he wants to die so it will end and they laugh:

“Crucio!” It was pain beyond anything Harry had ever experienced; his very bones were on fire; his head was surely splitting along his scar; his eyes were rolling madly in his head; he wanted it to end . . . to black out . . . to die . . . And then it was gone. He was hanging limply in the ropes binding him to the headstone of Voldemort’s father, looking up into those bright red eyes through a kind of mist. The night was ringing with the sound of the Death Eaters’ laughter.

(GoF, Ch33)

But the part that stuck out to me the most last time I read it was this moment:

he had been hit again by the Cruciatus Curse. The pain was so intense, so all-consuming, that he no longer knew where he was. . . . White-hot knives were piercing every inch of his skin, his head was surely going to burst with pain, he was screaming more loudly than he’d ever screamed in his life — And then it stopped. Harry rolled over and scrambled to his feet; he was shaking as uncontrollably as Wormtail had done when his hand had been cut off; he staggered sideways into the wall of watching Death Eaters, and they pushed him away, back toward Voldemort.

(GoF, Ch34)

Not only are the DE laughing at him, but they pushed a pained, shaking, and stumbling 14-year-old kid back into the circle to be tortured again!

Harry was stumbling over himself, barely getting onto his feet, and they pushed him down again and laughed. A bunch of grown-ass men. It's disgusting and horrifying. Like, them pushing Harry back towards Voldemort when he's barely walking and shaking all over disgusts me. That is so vile.

I think a good chunk of them seem to be 100% going along with Voldemort of their own free will and not just for his favor (though, I think that is part of it). After all, they did stuff like that on their own volition earlier in the book:

The floating people were suddenly illuminated as they passed over a burning tent and Harry recognized one of them: Mr. Roberts, the campsite manager. The other three looked as though they might be his wife and children. One of the marchers below flipped Mrs. Roberts upside down with his wand; her nightdress fell down to reveal voluminous drawers and she struggled to cover herself up as the crowd below her screeched and hooted with glee. “That’s sick,” Ron muttered, watching the smallest Muggle child, who had begun to spin like a top, sixty feet above the ground, his head flopping limply from side to side. “That is really sick. . . .”

(GoF, Ch9)

I really hope these DE didn't get to escape Azkaban for a second time after the second war (the ones that survived it, that is).

GoF has always been my favorite in the series and its darkest moments are part of why. Sure, there are horrific moments in the later books, but the shock of the graveyard scene is unparalleled for me in this series in the kind of horror it hits. Nothing later hits quite the same when it comes to the helplessness of it. To how Harry is certain he is going to die, that this is it. Unlike when he walks to his death in DH, in GoF, he wants to live so badly but he doesn't think he will — it's not a noble sacrifice, it's a child grasping at a chance to survive. And unlike at the end of OotP, he is completely and utterly alone. In the DoM, the Order and Dumbledore were right behind him and before they arrived he had friends with him, but in the graveyard, there was no one — just Harry against 30 Death Eaters and Voldemort. No one was coming for him, no one was coming to save him, Cedric just died, he was alone, and the only dueling spell he knew was Expelliarmus. It's horrifying and heartbreaking and it hits.

[pangaeaseas]

dumbledore revealing Snape as his spy after the end of the first war is so interesting and so reflective of his character: it's an act of mercy and also a saw trap. BC I doubt anyone else, or any other strategy, would have been able to get Snape out of Azkaban: the other death eaters would be focused on saving their own skins, and without the protection of being a Death Eater Snape becomes just another poor half-blood, probably the exact kind of person who would make an easy scapegoat for Death Eater activity (in scapegoat terms he's just like Sirius! For different reasons obviously. See my Sirius the perfect scapegoat meta). So Snape is spared the horrors of Azkaban. BUT: Dumbledore burning Snape as a spy--in full knowledge of two things, that Snape is more motivated now than ever to attack Voldemort after Lily is dead, and that Voldemort hasn't been fully defeated, means that Snape MUST become a double agent. Otherwise he will be useless in the next conflict --a spy in Voldemort's ranks is much more valuable than another fighter, even one as skilled as Snape, and I think at this point in his life he would have wanted to cause the most damage to Voldemort by any means necessary. And being a double agent is no perfect redemption: it means having to betray both sides of the war. Snape can never be fully welcomed into the Order's side because every Order member knows he might have to get them killed so Voldemort will trust him. So by being revealed as Dumbledore's spy, Dumbledore ensures Snape will never have a full place on either side of British society.

[slitheringghost]

A sneak peak of my “Canon abuse in the Black family” meta

Because I can’t wait until I finish the whole meta to yell about these details, that are solid evidence that Walburga was as violent and sadistic as abusers like Vernon, Umbridge, Marge, etc. and most definitely did not love Sirius.

1.0 Sirius breaking Walburga's heart

Starting with the passages most frequently quoted as evidence that Walburga loved and grieved Sirius, which, if you read and analyze carefully, proves the opposite:

“Master always liked his little joke,” said Kreacher, bowing again, and continuing in an undertone, “Master was a nasty ungrateful swine who broke his mother’s heart —” “My mother didn’t have a heart, Kreacher,” Sirius snapped. “She kept herself alive out of pure spite.” Kreacher bowed again and said, “Whatever Master says,” then muttered furiously, “Master is not fit to wipe slime from his mother’s boots, oh my poor Mistress, what would she say if she saw Kreacher serving him, how she hated him, what a disappointment he was —” (OoTP) “Master Sirius ran away, good riddance, for he was a bad boy and broke my Mistress’s heart with his lawless ways. But Master Regulus had proper pride; he knew what was due to the name of Black and the dignity of his pure blood. ” (DH)

Firstly, fandom uses "he broke her heart" as evidence Walburga loved Sirius... and then completely ignores that right after Kreacher says she hated him. Secondly, "spite" is defined as "a desire to hurt, annoy, or offend someone; maliciousness" - indicating Walburga deliberately and maliciously hurting her children and others.

Third, very importantly, there is something else that is stated not to have a heart earlier in OoTP - a dementor.

An enormous silver stag erupted from the tip of Harry’s wand; its antlers caught the dementor in the place where the heart should have been; it was thrown backward, weightless as darkness, and as the stag charged, the dementor swooped away, batlike and defeated. (OoTP)

Indicating that Walburga is like a dementor to Sirius, and matching how 12GP is framed as another Azkaban for him. Likewise, Vernon is compared to a dementor in the same book, with his strangling Harry paralleling the dementor reaching for Harry's throat a short time later (The connection to Umbridge as a dementor is also implied, since she's the one who sent them after Harry):

[...] two large purple hands reached through the open window and closed tightly around his throat. “Put — it — away!” Uncle Vernon snarled into Harry’s ear. “Now! Before — anyone — sees!” “Get — off — me!” Harry gasped; for a few seconds they struggled, Harry pulling at his uncle’s sausage-like fingers with his left hand, his right maintaining a firm grip on his raised wand. Then, as the pain in the top of Harry’s head gave a particularly nasty throb, Uncle Vernon yelped and released Harry as though he had received an electric shock [...] (OoTP) A pair of gray, slimy, scabbed hands slid from inside the dementor’s robes, reaching for him. [...] But there was no happiness in him... The dementor’s icy fingers were closing on his throat — the high-pitched laughter was growing louder and louder, and a voice spoke inside his head — “Bow to death, Harry […] (OoTP)

Fourth, the thing about using "he broke her heart" as evidence is that… Kreacher talks like this all the damn time, and it's pretty obvious that we shouldn't take many of these statements literally, lol:

“[...] she’s no better, nasty old blood traitor with her brats messing up my Mistress’s house, oh my poor Mistress, if she knew, if she knew the scum they’ve let in her house, what would she say to old Kreacher, oh the shame of it, Mudbloods and werewolves and traitors and thieves, poor old Kreacher, what can he do...” “...and there’s the Mudblood, standing there bold as brass, oh if my Mistress knew, oh how she’d cry, and there’s a new boy [...]" “— comes back from Azkaban ordering Kreacher around, oh my poor Mistress, what would she say if she saw the house now, scum living in it, her treasures thrown out, she swore he was no son of hers and he’s back, they say he’s a murderer too —” (OoTP)

Oh my poor mistress, she has to deal with all this filth in her house! Oh how she’d start crying if she saw a mudblood in her house! Oh my poor mistress, her filthy brood traitor son broke her heart!

Is it really “poor Walburga” for having people fighting against blood purity in her house? Would Walburga really start crying if she saw Hermione standing in Grimmauld Place? No, she just hates them and is violent to them, but Kreacher talks like all these things are ~breaking her heart~, my poor heartbroken Mistress, and poor Mistress this and poor Mistress that, constantly.

ETA: and he doesn’t even say Sirius running away is what broke her heart, it’s his rebellion before he ran away, his “lawless ways” that “broke her heart”, and so it’s a good thing he ran away.

2.0 Sirius and Harry running away

Next, we have another really significant parallel between Sirius and Harry, and Walburga and Umbridge:

“I used to be there,” said Sirius, pointing at a small, round, charred hole in the tapestry, rather like a cigarette burn. “My sweet old mother blasted me off after I ran away from home [...]" “You ran away from home?” “When I was about sixteen,” said Sirius. “I’d had enough.” (OoTP) “Tut, tut, I don’t seem to have made much of an impression yet,” she said, smiling. “Well, we’ll just have to try again tomorrow evening, won’t we? You may go.” Harry left her office without a word. The school was quite deserted; it was surely past midnight. He walked slowly up the corridor then, when he had turned the corner and was sure that she would not hear him, broke into a run. (OoTP)

Harry literally runs away in terror from Umbridge after she tortures him with the blood quill. This is a direct parallel to Sirius running away from home, and from Walburga in particular, after which Harry explicitly compares Walburga to Umbridge and to Umbridge torturing him, as I mentioned in this post ("We’ve got a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Umbridge. She’s nearly as nice as your mum.") Just like Sirius saying "I'd had enough" is a direct parallel to Harry running away from the Dursleys in PoA:

“She deserved it,” Harry said, breathing very fast. “She deserved what she got. You keep away from me.” He fumbled behind him for the latch on the door. “I’m going,” Harry said. “I’ve had enough.” (PoA)

And it's actually not even the Dursleys he runs away from, it's Aunt Marge - who Harry says is much worse than the Dursleys, who also beats him, and says that he needs more beating at school and they should use "extreme force" on him (Here's a post with more Sirius and Harry parallels, and parallels regarding their abuse and trauma.)

More thorough analysis is upcoming in the full meta.

[blorger]

The "fell in love" bit happens in book 4 as he tells Harry a condensed version of his life story in the cemetery, I'm honestly unsure if it's a case of knowing about the love potion and choosing to ignore it because it doesn't fit his agenda or if he really doesn't know.

If he really believes that his father ran away because of the witch thing only then it could be argued that it became a fuel for his hatred of muggles (and, somehow, also muggleborns...maybe because he assumed he was one for years and hated it?). idk, I find Voldemort's true motivations to be terribly opaque.

Re Snape and being a spy, I was always so so baffled that after Dumbledore exposed Snape as his spy, Voldemort was arrogant enough to take Snape back.

Because of course he would never. After Voldemort killed Lily, too? Lol. Lmao, even. Snape would have become the first name in the burn book. Undesirable №0.

And if it meant that Voldemort would never ask Snape to come back, that would mean that Dumbledore IS actually merciful, that he does actually understand how grooming works and for real saved Snape, and gave him his second chance. Which of course would make Dumbledore a fundamentally good person, and not like, whatever JKR writes.

I was always very... unsure on what JKR actually thinks good is. Because, well. Sometimes she writes someone being righteous, and doing very, very dubious shit. No one ever said "Hermione, kidnapping is bad" or "Hermione, erasing the memories of your parents is bad", or even "However bad Umbridge was, that scene is written as angry men kidnapping a woman and then her being returned traumatized from,,,,, SOMETHING".

It's fine when Hagrid makes fun of Dudley for being fat, but it's not fine when Draco makes fun of Mrs. Weasley for being fat. It's fine for Arthur to "get off" Ludo Bagman's brother after he gets in trouble, and get 10 expensive top-box tickets out of it. But Fudge doing "favors" for Lucius after he... donates money to St. Mungos... now that's unacceptable.

JKR's view of morality is that there are good people and bad people, and that if you're a good person your actions are by definition good. It's why she's so interested in mechanisms to sort out the good people - the Sorting Hat putting people into Gryffindor, and now the Qilin picking out the most worthy King Wizard. Occasionally a Good person will be tempted off the Good Path because of a Bad influence (ie - Snape falling under the thrall of his pureblood buddies and then snapping back to center, Dumbledore falling in with of Grindelwald and then repenting, Percy becoming enamored with the Ministry... etc.)

JKR also seems to really, really dislike arrogance. Lockhart, Lucius, Draco, Percy... and Voldemort is the most arrogant of them all. Him trusting Snape is definitely an example of him being extremely stupid... but his inflated sense of his own grandeur, his own importance, that's totally been set up. Also, clearly the guy does not have a great understanding of the intricacies of romantic relationships.

“He desired her, that was all,” sneered Voldemort, “but when she had gone, he agreed that there were other women, and of purer blood, worthier of him —”

If I wanted to get psychological about this, I'd say that Voldemort doesn't think about his relationships in terms of love (i mean, dumbledore thinks he loves the snake but that's neither here nor there) but in terms of whether people are WORTHY of him or not. Wormtail is objectively extremely effective... but he's not worthy, based on whatever set of criteria Voldemort has in his head. Voldemort/Bellatrix and Voldemort/Barty jr. (I see it) absolutely feature Bellatrix and Barty doing some very extreme things to prove themselves worthy of him. So it's not surprising that Voldemort lands on that word when talking about Snape's potential rebound.

Especially because Voldemort absolutely has experience with people desiring him, physically. (DEFINITELY Hepzibah Smith, and there's no way she was the first. Tom is playing the part of the Charmer on purpose.) So on some level, I'll buy that he just thinks that's what love is.

Where we get into potential plotholes is with legilimency. Dumbledore and Voldemort can still read minds, and still they both think Snape is working for them. Either Snape is able to construct false memories for them to look at... or maybe if a occulumens is good enough you just can't read their mind, even if they want you too. Except *Harry* can read Snape's mind? Is he just Anakin Skywalker levels of powerful? (I mean, maybe.) But then does that also means that DRACO'S occlumency is good enough to fool Voldemort?

(the biggest sign that JKR just did not really think the whole legilimency/occlumency thing through... is the detail that Bellatrix taught Draco occlumency. Why would she do that? (especially because at that point she's starting not to trust him.) Even if she did want to, why would Bellatrix - who is an enforcer/berserker type, not stealth, not a spy, not good at/inclined to conceal her emotions... why would she be able to conceal her thoughts? Why would she even WANT to, when her main thing is desperately seeking connection with Voldemort?

[fandoomrants]

Most jegulus fics:

James' POV: Omg, he's so smooth and collected and mean and hard to impress, I have to work very hard to win his heart.

Regulus' POV: GAY PANIC, GAY PANIC, GAY-

[arkadijxpancakes]

Yes. The Weasleys had too many kids. An analysis. (Part 2 of 2)

So, where were we? Right. The Weasleys have so many kids that it fucks with their family dynamic and with the mental health of everyone involved. Last time, we looked at Molly and Arthur during the war. We ended in 1981, which means that all kids are born, now. Molly is still nursing. (It’s common to nurse kids up to two or three years, while slowly weaning them, so I assume that this is what Molly does.) She’s finally done with becoming pregnant every other year, however. And it’s about time, because her workload is bigger, than any single person can handle. And while it will decrease over time, it will stay enormous for the next couple of years.

1982 – Bill (who will be 12 at the end of the year) starts Hogwarts. It’s his first lick of freedom. There is no babysitting-duty at Hogwarts. All he has to do is stay out of trouble and earn good grades. Other than that, he is free to do what he wants. He will be the only Weasley-sibling in Hogwarts for two years. Because of this, his parents probably have enough money in reserve to buy him a full Hogwarts-kit without resorting to second-hand-stuff too much. (He might get second-hand books, but his robes and wand are probably new.)

At home, life is still hard for Molly. She has one less kid to take care of, but the kids who are still in her care are a handful. She still needs to teach Charlie. Percy got 6 over the summer and is a little nerd, so she is likely teaching him, too. Fred and George are still chaos incarnate. (And they are just getting started, really.)

Bill’s duties (chores around the home and watching his younger brothers) get passed down to Charlie. Percy might try his hand on this, too, because he is still in direct competition with the twins and Mum gives him attention when he helps her.

The war is over and the Weasleys start to feel the effects of this. As Death Eaters are captured and sentenced, the Wizarding World starts to feel safe, again. The stress eases off (but Molly is probably still grieving.) 

Arthur’s work schedule slowly goes back to more normal levels, allowing him to spend more time at home. However, he missed out on a big chunk of his children’s childhood. It’s also hard to return to his role as a parent, because at this point, the roles of the family are pretty much established: Molly is in charge and does most of the work. Some of the easier chores are passed down to her kids (first Bill, now Charlie, later Percy). This includes watching over his younger brothers while Molly takes care of her toddlers. It’s kind of hard for him to integrate himself into this dynamic. (Just imagine him doing the laundry or the dishes – it’s very likely that he has a different way for doing this, which could easily disrupt Molly’s workflow or simply just annoy her.) 

I think he will mostly stick to the stuff he did when Bill and Charlie were little. So he’s taking his kids out for trips on the weekends. But this is difficult, too, because it’s not Bill and Charlie anymore, but Charlie, Percy, Fred and George. Their dynamic is entirely different, and it’s hard to keep an eye on all of them, while also satisfying their needs equally. (Especially because Percy, Fred and George start to clash.) As a result, the trips are probably not as frequent as they once were.

It’s also possible that Arthur picks up his Muggle-hobby at this point. (Picking up this hobby causes him to spend at least some evenings in his shed, tinkering with Muggle-stuff instead of helping his wife. I imagine him to fade into the background a little bit, while he leaves the household and child-rearing to his wife.)

1984 – Charlie starts Hogwarts.

There are now two Weasley-Siblings at Hogwarts, but things are still pretty chill for them. It’s still just Bill and Charlie, after all. Bill is probably considered trustworthy enough by his teachers to receive a time-turner, so he can take all electives Hogwarts has to offer. (I do wonder how much Molly’s expectations are playing into this. She clearly expects her children to do well at Hogwarts, both in terms of grades and behavior. At this point, he is either a massive nerd like Hermione, trying to perform well to fulfill his mother’s expectations, or both. He is also setting a standard for his siblings here, whether this is on his own accord or because of pressure he receives from Molly.)

At home, Percy (now 8) takes over Charlie’s duties. He tries to control Fred and George. It’s likely that he fails miserably. They are just too close age-wise for this to work. 

Fred and George are 6 now and start to play rough. Last year, Fred turned Ron’s teddy bear into a giant spider (which probably caused Ron to develop arachnophobia). Next year, they will try to talk Ron into making an Unbreakable Vow with them. So keeping an eye on them is getting harder, not easier.

At this point in time, Scabbers exceeds the life span of his species. Rats can get up to two or three years old. (And Rowling knows this. This information is included in book 3, when Ron takes Scabbers to the pet store to have the witch there check on him.) This is Scabbers third year with the Weasleys, so his time is up. No one seems to notice, though. I don’t blame Percy (or the other kids) for this, but Molly and Arthur should notice that they don’t have to replace a rat or have a talk about how Scabbers is happier in the great rat heaven. They don’t and I wonder why. My suggestions are: a) They are either not paying any attention to Percy and his pet (which would suck) or b) Scabbers is turning into Peter and uses a wand (his own or Molly’s) to confund them as needed (which would suck even more).

1987 – Percy starts Hogwarts.

At the end of the 1986/87 school year, Bill (who is a prefect now) takes his OWL in all 12 courses Hogwarts has to offer. It’s possible he returns his time turner after this or keeps it until his graduation to deal with his NEWT-workload. He now starts his sixth year. Charlie is in his fourth year and is already on the Quidditch team. Molly is very, very proud of both of them.

Percy is a wee first year and doesn’t have to watch out for any younger siblings for once. He can focus on learning instead. He is probably the first boy in the family to end up with hand-me-down robes, as he has a similar build as Bill and Bill has probably outgrown his first set.

Scabbers is six, now. So he has lived twice as long as a normal rat would. Still, no one has caught up to the fact that he is awfully old for a rat. It’s very likely that he accompanies Percy to Hogwarts. (It should be noted that Hogwarts only allows cats, owls and toads as pets, so Percy probably got a permission to bring a rat instead. However, no one at the school notices Scabber’s age either.)

Life at home is still chaotic. Fred and George are 10, Ron is 8 and Ginny is 7. Molly is probably teaching all of them. Her workload is slowly going down to a more manageable level, but keeping the twins in check is still a challenge.

She probably doesn’t expect Fred and George to do chores and watch over their siblings. (At least not in the same way she expected from her older kids.) Mostly, because she can’t trust them to do it. (Remember the Unbreakable Vow? Yeah, that.) Additionally, Ron simply has no authority over them, so that’s not an option either.

1989 – Fred and George start Hogwarts.

In his seventh year, Bill was made Head Boy. By now, he took his NEWTs and left school. He probably returns home for a little while, before he takes the first chance he gets to fuck off to Egypt and play with cursed tombs. (We should probably talk about English wizards, Egyptian treasures and colonialism here, but that’s a completely different can of worms.)

Charlie took his OWL and is now in his sixth year. He’s still on the Quidditch team and should be Quidditch Captain by now. He’s also a prefect. So between them, they got all the big achievements Hogwarts has to offer: Prefect (both of them), Head Boy (Bill) and Quidditch Captain (Charlie). Bill also got 12 OWL, which is an achievement on its own. Molly will measure her other children against this later.

Speaking of Molly: While her home life is going to relax a lot this year, her expectations are still around. She is still expecting her kids to do well in school. Considering that Fred and George are now at Hogwarts, the old demand “Watch over your younger siblings!” is back and in full swing. I can’t see Charlie doing it – he has his head full of dragons and Quidditch and lived five blissful years in Hogwarts without the need to look after anyone all that much. Sure, Percy was at school, but he has already learned to look after himself. I don’t think Charlie will start with this now. Not unless the twins interfere with his prefect- or Quidditch-duties or are completely out of line.

Percy is a different story, however. He is in his third year and still taking after Bill. Just like Bill he takes all electives, so it is likely that he also gets a time turner for this. At this point, Percy has ingrained the idea that he needs to perform exceptionally well at school and Bill set an incredible high bar to reach, but he is willing to do just that. He also spent a lot more time at home dealing with the twins. Molly’s expectations for him to be a good boy and to look after his younger brothers will now put pressure on him again. He will probably try to control their chaotic behavior, but they are 11 now, and they will listen to him even less than before.

For Fred and George, this is heaven. They finally escaped the watchful eyes of their mother and have a whole new world to explore. So many secret passageways and even more victims to play pranks on. Percy is annoying, but they can play pranks on him, too. They will soon steal the Marauder’s Map from Filch’s office, which will open up even more possibilities. It’s great. 10/10, no notes.

Life at home is finally manageable. It’s just Molly, Ron and Ginny (and also Arthur and his Muggle-stuff). This is probably a nice time for Ron, because there are no older siblings around to steal his limelight. However, at this point he has the family dynamic internalized and his self-esteem is pretty low overall.

1991 – Ron starts Hogwarts.

By now, Charlie has left Hogwarts. It is unlikely that he actually finished his education, however. When Harry becomes a member of the Gryffindor team in Philosopher’s Stone, Fred says: “We haven’t won since Charlie left, but this year’s team is going to be brilliant.” Had Charlie finished his education, he would have left in summer 1991. The quote is from autumn 1991. In this case, the quote would make no sense, because there were no matches for Gryffindor to lose between Charlie leaving and Harry becoming Gryffindor’s new seeker. So he must have left before then, probably sometime in his sixth or seventh year, after his seventeenth birthday.

It’s important to note that we don’t read about any fights over this. I can’t imagine Molly being happy with this, but he must have had her permission. (Otherwise we would know about it. Molly can’t shut up about the failures of the twins, she would not shut up about Charlie’s failures either.)

Percy is in his fifth year and a prefect. By now he is the career-driven rules lawyer we meet in canon. He will end this school year by taking all 12 OWL – just like Bill. (When Ron is made prefect in OotP, Molly makes sure to tell everyone that he is now a prefect, just like his older brothers, and she seems very comfortable doing so. I assume, Percy heard his fair share of this, when he was made prefect.)

The twins are in their third year and members of Gryffindor’s Quidditch team. By now, they have earned themselves a reputation as pranksters.

Ron is the sixth Weasley-kid to enter Hogwarts. While his older siblings might have gotten some second-hand stuff, everything he owns was basically handed down to him: Bill’s old robes, Charlie’s old wand and Percy’s old pet rat. To be clear: none of those things make much sense to hand down (or at least not to Ron).

Bill’s old robes should have gone to Percy after Bill left Hogwarts. They should be of a similar height, while Ron (as an eleven-year-old) should be somewhat smaller. Instead of handling it that way, Percy got new robes as a reward and Bill’s robes were handed down to Ron. This is clear favoritism on Molly’s part. It’s no surprise that Ron (who already feels overlooked by his parents) feels upset about it.

Giving him Charlie’s old wand makes even less sense. We know, that the wand chooses its wizard. Charlie’s wand did not choose Ron, so it would not perform as well for him. In addition, in book 1 the wand is described as follows: “He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end.”

That thing is basically falling apart. That was either a lot of wear and tear during Charlie’s time at Hogwarts (considering the fact that we have not heard anything about this with other wands, this is unlikely) or the wand was already a hand-me-down when Charlie got it. In either case, giving Ron a wand that has its core more or less poking out, doesn’t sound very safe. I wonder why Arthur and Molly decided to do this. Did they expect Ron to have a great learning experience with a damaged wand? Did they want Ron to use the wand until it eventually did break, saving them another year or two before they had to buy a new one? (And yes, they would indeed need to buy him a new one in his third year, but they had no way of knowing that. Unless there are prophecies for that kind of shit. And even then. The fuck?)

Money is tight, of course. But is it really that tight? They could afford to get Percy an owl, after all. And buying a wand for their son is an expense they've had 11 years to plan. I understand getting second-hand robes and cauldrons, as they see a lot of wear and tear. But this should not apply to a wand in the same way. This is just really, really odd.

And then there is the elephant – and with elephant I mean rat – in the room: Scabbers. Firstly, that rat should be dead for at least seven years by now. No one seems to notice. No one cares. What the fuck.

Secondly, why is Percy giving his pet to Ron? There just isn’t a great explanation for this. Scabbers has been his pet for ten years. TEN. Percy should be attached to his pet like glue. After all, he has Scabbers since he can remember. Why is he willing to part with his rat? The only reasons I can think of:

1) He does it because Molly asks him to. She is clearly playing favorites, here. Not only does he get new robes when he becomes prefect, but he also receives his very own owl as a gift. It’s possible that this owl comes with strings attached, and Percy is required to give Scabbers to Ron to get the owl. Which would be a pretty fucked up situation for every child involved and should’ve been handled differently.

2) Percy wants to get rid of Scabbers. He doesn’t know about Scabbers’ Peter-shaped secret, of course (otherwise he would’ve reported this). But it is possible that he feels, on a subconscious level, that something about Scabbers is off. Not in a dangerous way (again, he would’ve reported this), just in an unpleasant way. (This would still be odd. Especially when we consider that no one noticed Scabbers age.)

3) Scabbers has decided that it’s time to jump ship. Percy just turned fifteen this year. He is old enough to grow suspicious of his seemingly immortal rat. It’s possible that he cozied up to Ron to manipulate both boys into making the switch. Or he turned into Peter and confunded some Weasleys. Who knows. He’s still a Death Eater and mass murderer on the run, after all.

1992 – Ginny starts Hogwarts.

The flock has left the nest. Molly’s work is mostly over. It’s just her and Arthur who stay at the burrow. She still takes care of the household, but the responsibility for her kids rest on other people’s shoulders, now. There is nothing left to do, except knitting, sending care packages, worrying about her kids careers and hexing the occasional howler. Molly could get a job now or pick up a hobby or two. I mean, she does read Gilderoy Lockhart’s shitty books. She is a fan of his, after all. But she doesn’t seem to enter any community over this (no fan club, no reading circle, no nothing. It’s just her). And there are no other hobbies outside of that. 

Apropos community: We don’t really see her having a community. She is a pretty important side character, but the books never mention that she has friends or other contacts outside her family. It seems like she is focusing on her kids and only on her kids.

Which would explain her meddling. Because Molly meddles a lot, when it comes to her kids and their futures. She keeps putting pressure on Percy to look after his younger siblings – this will expand to Harry after she gets to know him. Percy (still a good boy) does as she wishes. It’s not healthy, neither for him nor for his relationship with his siblings (who are mostly annoyed by him), but Molly either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care. In the future, she will be very cross with Hermione after reading Rita Skeeters articles about her. She will also be upset about the twins' career choice and Bill's choice of girlfriend…

And yeah, that’s basically it. At this point, the family dynamic is firmly established and ingrained in her children’s heads. Percy is already set up to explode in the near future. Being Molly’s Golden Child is neither good nor healthy, especially considering all the pressure that comes along with it. His relationship with his siblings isn’t all that great, either.

Fun fact: We don’t know if anyone ever told him about Scabbers’ Peter-shaped secret. If it did happen, it was probably pretty traumatic. That shit-show was his pet for ten fucking years and he handed it down to his younger brother. That’s nightmare fuel, even if Peter never hurt any of them.

The twins have firmly established themselves as troublemakers. At least some of their “jokes” really aren’t funny and border on cruel, neglectful and/or harmful. (Remember the Unbreakable Vow? Yeah, still not funny. In 1993, they also tried to lock Percy in a pyramid. Yes, I don’t think they wanted to hurt him, not really, but that thing was still a cursed tomb. Things could have gone wrong, and at that point they were old enough to know better. In their last year they tested their joke-sweets on younger students who were neither adequately informed nor old enough to consent for something like this. Yes, they tested the sweets on themselves first, but something could still have gone wrong because of allergies and all that stuff. And after they left Hogwarts and started their joke shop, they do sell love potions to students, complete with options to smuggle that shit into school. Additionally, instead of going bad/losing their potency, those love potions get stronger with age. This alone is a horror story waiting to happen.)

Ron is affected, too. His self-esteem is pretty low when he starts Hogwarts and it will stay that way throughout the series. This will inform a lot of his decisions (especially the bad ones) in the future. 

We don’t know much about how all of this affected Bill, Charlie and Ginny. Bill and Charlie just aren’t as involved in the narrative, and Ginny stays kind of… bland and love interest-ish… throughout the story.

So… yeah?

Am I saying that the Weasleys did not love their kids? No, of course not. Especially Molly shows her love regularly. (Her love is more like a water hose than a watering can, however. Very intense and focussed on a single spot at a time, instead of reaching all her kids equally.)

What I am saying is that the Weasleys, as a family, are pretty dysfunctional. Many factors are playing into this – Molly’s and Arthur’s dynamic as a couple and as parents, the number of their kids, the war, etc. It’s impacting all of them negatively. Molly is stressed out, Arthur is out of touch and some of their kids lose their trust (either in their parents, in their siblings or in themselves.) It also makes their love feel conditional. The twins feel this whenever Molly is comparing them with their older (more well-behaved) brothers. Percy feels this when he comes home with that promotion and is demoted from Golden Child to family-traitor within a heartbeat. Ron has internalized it and desperately seeks attention and affection elsewhere.

They still love each other, but it’s a difficult position to be in for most of them.

And the worst thing: I don’t think Rowling notices any of this. She did not intend the family to be as dysfunctional as it is. She keeps portraying the Weasleys as this great, loving family who took Harry in when he needed it the most. And of course they did – but that’s not all there is to it. There are so many issues that go unresolved in the books. Molly never learns to back off. The responsibility for the conflict between Arthur and Percy is placed entirely on Percy, despite Arthur being at fault, too. The twins never really learn that a prank can go too far. Ron doesn’t really solve his self-esteem-issues. Rowling does start to give him some character development regarding his self-esteem-issues multiple times, but he always seems to revert back over the course of the summer holidays. 

The family really deserved more effort to go into the writing.

Note: This analysis is not meant to say that stay-at-home parents are bad or that Molly should have gotten a job while having seven little kids at home. What I am criticizing is the way we treat care work. Because it is work, and a lot of work. A stay-at-home parent is often on call 24/7. A stay-at-home parent never really gets to take a break, never can take a day off, and never just can leave their work for another day. But they do deserve breaks and days off, just like any person with a day job. And that is where their partners and the rest of their families come in.

And this is the other thing I wanted to criticize here: The way we glorify living as a nuclear family. It’s said that you need a village to raise a kid and I do think this is true. Having more people involved in child-rearing (be it relatives, neighbors or professionals like teachers) is a boon. Families had access to this for millennia. Raising your kids with the help of your family and your village was normal, up until very recently. And it’s a shame that the Weasleys seemingly had no help like this. And yes, I do see the fault with Rowling, who wrote them that way. She basically took the concept of the nuclear families of the 1980s and 1990s and slapped it onto the family, without any world building at all.

(Please also note, that I consider stay-at-home parents to be different from tradwives. When I use the term “tradwife”, I am specifically referring to stay-at-home mothers who do not just take care of their household and their kids, but who also commit themselves to having as many kids as possible and who tend to take on other duties (like homeschooling) as well. The most common examples of this are probably families who belong to fundamentalist Christian churches or cults.)

[blorger]

These pearls of wisdom deserved to see the light of day permanently because seriously, how was Percy supposed to figure out that his new boss was imperiused?

Even without going into the whole "Hogwarts hasn't had a consistent DADA curriculum for fifty years" thing, from what little we do see of Barty sr. and Percy together the two didn't exactly appear to have an open line of communication, like, pre-Imperio Barty didn't even know Percy's name (which btw is super weird since he was on a first name basis with Arthur).

It's not at all like the Moody situation where people who'd known the man for decades failed to see the signs of polyjuice, and yet the narrative (and the Ministry) place quite a bit of blame of an 18 y.o., more than anyone ever gets for Moody's imprisonment and impersonation.

As an aside, the whole "Barty couldn't possibly have had both the people skills and the DADA knowledge needed to successfully fool people" thing is an extremely good point, and I think part of the reason why he gets killed off-page so quickly after the big reveal is that he's a walking, talking plot hole. I always found the quickness with which Barty jr. ( one of the book's main characters) disappears from the story to be jarring - to the point where I was full of "Fudge is a death eater" conspiracies when I first read GoF - because it's so different from what we've been trained to expect in the hp books.

Hi, just a quick Q to all the big brains out there... as far as I can tell, the books never go into why Dumbledore didn't realise Fake Moody was actually not real Moody, right? Other than Barty saying he Imperiused Real Moody so that he'd tell him details about himself - which isn't that great an explanation - we don't really get an explanation, so my question to all the Barty scholars is the following: how in the fuck? Like, give the man an award, he just went and delivered the performance of a lifetime after 13 years of Imperius but also, Dumbledore is a legilimens and also Moody's friend, how in tarnation????

Also as an aside, I was re-reading the scene where Dumbledore does his big end of the book wrap-up speech to Fudge in GoF, trying to see if I'd missed a mention of the whole Dumbledore not realising for a year that he was in the presence of an impostor thing, and he couldn't have explained things in a worse way.

Like, Harry is there, the pensieve is there, veritaserum is there, why doesn't Dumbledore use any of those to make Fudge realise that Voldemort really is back? You can't just go "trust me bro" when the subject in question is the resurrection of a dark lord, you know?

I never realised before just how plot hole-y the end of GoF is and, like, I need an adult to tell me what to think, please and thank you.

[oflights]

i have been laughing about this to myself all day

[dream-with-a-fever]

i love the silver trio so much but it always grinds my gears when i remember that while neville and luna still don’t have that much screen time, you still get an essence of who they are as people. their personalities, their morals, their relationship dynamics with other characters (like harry) and yet ginny, despite being a bigger character than both of them, and being harry’s future partner, mother of his children, most important person in his life (to name a few), ginny has exactly ZERO opportunity to shine. unlike her pals, she gets little to no screen time, let alone scenes one-on-one with harry (which both neville and luna have), her entire personality is erased. everything that makes ginny who she is is removed.

it’s absolutely infuriating to watch. as an audience, how are we supposed to get to know her? to understand her? to understand why she is the woman harry wants to spends the rest of his life with? like i love luna and neville, they’re wonderful characters and additions to the story, but prioritising them over ginny in the films (and giving them additional scenes like luna and harry in the forest alone?? it’s a sweet scene but also??? harry & luna don’t interact like that in the books, not to mention luna is much more eccentric and unintentionally amusing in the books, more so than she is perpetually wise and friendly… like we couldn’t have the library scene or the ‘lucky you’ scene in ootp - arguably the most important scenes for ginny (and harry’s) development but we have time for luna to share some nice slightly ooc wisdom with harry? again, i love luna, and i love that scene too, but cutting other important scenes…?)

i could go on and on about this. but i just hate that she is so sidelined, and discarded in the films, despite being such an important character as an individual and in relation to harry. i’ll never understand you david yates. ginny, sweetie, i’m so sorry.

[the-wayward-prince]

Severus Snape devoted his entire adult life to protect Harry Potter, son of the man who made Snape's life a living hell. He did this after Dumbledore failed to protect the Potters. No amount of loyalty to Dumbledore could bring Lily back. No amount of trying to save lives and thwart the Dark Lord could bring his best friend back. Snape is not such a fool to think it could. Perhaps his redemption started with Lily, but it continued of his own volition.

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Do you think Hogwarts has baths for all students? It’s something I’ve been thinking about, since I can’t remember if the bathing situation of students is mentioned outside of the prefect’s bathroom and the huge tub.

I’ve always kind of assumed modern students use showers, but I don’t know for sure - and now it dents me on a spiral of ‘wait, do they just use smaller tubs?’

As far as I can tell, modern showers were first patented somewhere in the the late 1760’s. Which means that if there are showers, they would have been added during later renovations - like the bathroom entrance to the chamber of secrets.

So, pre-renovation, Hogwarts students would probably sponge bathe with basins of water or, later in the Victorian era or early Edwardian, move onto full bathtubs.

(Also, and this is more of a nitpick on my part, what was with the statement that wizards and witches would just vanish their waste? Chamber pots and commode chairs still existed at that time???)

Okay, so this is an interesting one. So, plumbing that would allow water to reach all sections of the castle, particularly the high towers (Gryffindor & Ravenclaw), yeah, that's not happening in the early days of the school. Or even when the shower was invented. Water taps for indoor plumbing that allowed to get water in and not just get the waste out was a late Victorian invention.

As per usual, I went a little overboard with research, so it's under the cut.

According to the old Pottermore article on the matter:

When first created, the Chamber was accessed through a concealed trapdoor and a series of magical tunnels. However, when Hogwarts’ plumbing became more elaborate in the eighteenth century (this was a rare instance of wizards copying Muggles, because hitherto they simply relieved themselves wherever they stood, and vanished the evidence), the entrance to the Chamber was threatened, being located on the site of a proposed bathroom. The presence in school at the time of a student called Corvinus Gaunt – direct descendant of Slytherin, and antecedent of Tom Riddle – explains how the simple trapdoor was secretly protected, so that those who knew how could still access the entrance to the Chamber even after newfangled plumbing had been placed on top of it.

(Pottermore)

Proper, elaborate plumbing only made its way into the school in the 18th century but this plumbing would only be to be rid of waste, not get water into taps.

(The above quote is also the source of the wizards vanishing their waste, and you're right that it's really weird. I assume they still wanted privacy when doing their business. Like, I can see them still having privies and chamber pots but instead of throwing the waste somewhere, they vanished it. Like, I just can't imagine someone peeing/shitting in their robes in public willingly, I'm sorry, that is not realistic. People didn't do that, yes there were public toilets where other people could see you shit, but it's a space specialized for it (you're polite and don't look, like with urinals), it's not like anyone shat at the dinner table. Like what? What does she mean by "wherever they stood"? I refuse to believe they didn't go somewhere secluded-ish/specialized before going about their business and then vanishing it)

Cedric advises Harry to take a bath with the egg:

“What?” “Take a bath, and — er — take the egg with you, and — er — just mull things over in the hot water. It’ll help you think. ... Trust me.”

(GoF)

Which leads me to assume all students have baths and not showers in their dorms (or wherever they have them). This is supported by later quotes I found:

“Yes, it was,” said Ginny. “It was appalling. Angelina was nearly in tears by the end of it.” Ron and Ginny went off for baths after dinner; Harry and Hermione returned to the busy Gryffindor common room and their usual pile of homework.

(OotP)

Ron and Ginny go to take baths after Quidditch practice (Harry was already banned) and I don't believe they are using the prefects' bathroom. What I note here as interesting is that Harry and Hermione return to the common room while Ron and Ginny go to the baths separately. Why are the baths implied to not be in Gryffindor Tower?

But in PoA, there are also showers, which I assume are in the Quidditch changing rooms:

“Where is Wood?” said Harry, suddenly realizing he wasn’t there. “Still in the showers,” said Fred. “We think he’s trying to drown himself.”

(PoA)

So, what I think is that by the time the books take place, the dorms have baths (the phrasing in the OotP quote is weird, but I'm pretty sure the baths are in the dorms/common rooms) and the Quidditch changing rooms that are not part of the castle and easier to renovate have showers.

(The other option is that they have cool covered Victorian baths that also functioned as showers and they also look really cool:

The above enclosure has a shower head inside. So, maybe, though less likely with how the quotes are phrased)

Now, baths have been a thing for a long time, but until the late 19th century, basically no one had indoor baths like we do today or pipes that got water into homes. There were pipes that supplied water to London, but you had to go to specific stations and get buckets of water to then heat and pour it into the bath at home. The bath day was a whole ritual.

The first screw-down water tap was patented in 1845, so the plumbing Corvinus introduced would've been just to dispose of sewage and waste and not taps for baths like I said earlier. Plumbing that supplied water to individual houses was only introduced in the late 19th century for the wealthy and early 20th century to the rest, so Hogwarts wouldn't have seen it until then.

Since Hogwarts has an army of house elves running it, it's very possible they ensured the baths always had clean warm water for students. Additionally, older students could just cast Aguamenti to fill their baths with clean water, so I don't think taps were all that important to them. So, I think the dorms having a bathroom (I assume one for boys and one for girls) that you had to fill in yourself with magic or call an elf to help (for younger students) isn't too far-fetched. That along with a washcloth, bowl, and pitcher to wash their face in the dorm room would've likely covered the hygiene needs for the most part. And again, baths have existed for thousands of years as there are accounts of very old public bathhouses, so it's likely they would've been a thing in Hogwarts even before modern plumbing was introduced (as they were in the muggle world). But I don't think the "private-ish" baths in the dorms were always there.

Which leads me to prefects' bath:

About a hundred golden taps stood all around the pool’s edges, each with a differently colored jewel set into its handle. There was also a diving board. Long white linen curtains hung at the windows; a large pile of fluffy white towels sat in a corner, [...] at the side of the swimming-pool-sized bath, then knelt down and turned on a few of the taps. He could tell at once that they carried different sorts of bubble bath mixed with the water, though it wasn’t bubble bath as Harry had ever experienced it. One tap gushed pink and blue bubbles the size of footballs; another poured ice-white foam so thick that Harry thought it would have supported his weight if he’d cared to test it; a third sent heavily perfumed purple clouds hovering over the surface of the water.

(GoF)

The prefects' bath is described very similar to a public bathhouse. Roman bathhouses and some medieval ones occasionally had these huge pool-like baths that everyone would use together.

These bathhouses were a luxury though, you wouldn't have gone there every day. It was an event, you'd talk to people, you'd eat, it was a whole thing. So it was more a social thing than just cleaning yourself, you had a washcloth at home for that.

So, my headcanon is that when Hogwarts was built, all students used the prefects' bath as that was the student's bathhouse that everyone used. Later in the Middle Ages, the dorms got more private baths:

(Though people often still used these above baths together and even sat to eat there, since, again, heating up all the water for it made it a luxury. Wizards though, would probably bath more often than muggles since they have magic that can fill the baths and heat them for them)

These more private baths would probably be when the aforementioned bathrooms (still semi-public for a whole house) would be introduced. Later when one-person baths became the norm they would be switched out to these:

these baths would've still had to be filled manually via spells or by the house elves. Modern baths with taps are a 19th-century invention and didn't become common until the early 20th century. In the Victorian era, you just needed to wash your face, feet, genitalia, and armpits every day, a full proper bath was still not an everyday occurrence for most of that century.

The late Victorian era came with the introduction of taps in baths and dedicated bathrooms (or "water closets") more similar to what we are familiar with today:

(Center drain, wood rimmed enameled cast iron tub with ornate feet, embossed skirt, marbled with figural tiled facade, Standard Manufacturing 1887)

These bathrooms were reserved only for the wealthy (since plumbing was expensive) who usually transformed an unused bedroom into a bathroom. These rooms were kind of embarrassing for people to see due to their private nature (hence why the baths and toilets were often rimmed or surrounded with wood to make them look like regular furniture. There were even "folding baths" so you could hide the bath when not in use)

In the very late 19th century tubs started to be made fully from copper or cast iron and these baths would become a common household appliance in the early 20th century.

(Roman pedestal Tub, Standard Manufacturing 1914)

Also, The early showers of the 18th century had a water pump that could spray water from above:

But it still had to be manually filled with water and was not common in homes until the latter half of the 20th century, which is when they would be introduced in the Quidditch changing rooms, but not inside the castle. (Yes, there were some late Victorian shower-bath hybrids and even just showers for homes, but they weren't very common from what I've read)

So, this is what I have to say about the baths/shower situation at Hogwarts.

[ugly-cactus]

common criticism i see of remus lupin is that he should've taken in harry as a baby (forseeing his mistreatment by the dursleys) but petunia is harry's blood relative. she is a mother, financially stable, and physically and psychologically capable; she and vernon are ostensibly fit to accept a second child. meanwhile, remus is a single 21-year-old who can never have stable employment. he can't afford childcare while he's working/wolfing. even if he had money, his mental state (likely the worst of his depression) is in shambles after the deaths of his friends and comrades. his furry problem would be a danger to harry. he no longer has a strong support system. he is in no state to, especially by himself, figure out how to care for an infant, raise a child, and protect this very very high-profile boy from politics, violence, and literally himself. and remus never checks up on harry or visited him, because he trusts dumbledore implicitly and can't imagine that his childhood would be unsafe. i think he wouldn't presume that petunia could mistreat harry either. he's friends with james, but doesn't seem to know lily that well (lily's letters talk about sirius, but never remus) so maybe he doesn't know of her hatred for wizards.

no hate for young remus yo

[neverenoughmarauders]

Lily's meaningless sacrifice

One thing that irks me is when people suggest that in canon, Lily had any idea that Harry would survive (this is merely a canon post, nothing to do with fanfiction). It irks me, partly because it's just incorrect and that's the sort of person I am. More importantly, however, it irks me because Lily not stepping aside when she had nothing to gain from dying is fundamental to the story.

Let's start with JKR own words from an interview in 2005:

MA: Did she know anything about the possible effect of standing in front of Harry? JKR: No - because as I've tried to make clear in the series, it never happened before. No one ever survived before. And no one, therefore, knew that could happen.

Lily knew nothing about the possible effect of standing in front of Harry. Lily was faced with this choice:

Scenario 1: Steps aside, and Harry is killed.

Scenario 2: Be killed, and Harry is killed.

Scenario 1 is (on the surface) objectively better (unless you're a DE and thus want less muggle-borns around). To Voldemort, it's a simple choice: In both scenarios Harry will die, in one, Lily will survive. In fact, this is what makes a lot of people defend Severus' choice to only ask Voldemort to spare Lily. Severus could not save Harry (and apparently it's totally cool not trying to save others if they bullied you).

Lily could not save Harry.

Lily's choice, as far as she is aware, is not whether to save Harry or not, but whether to save herself. And yet, Lily cannot stand aside. As JKR points out earlier in the interview, what Lily did is not that surprising to us readers ("I don't think any mother would stand aside from their child"). Why? Love. Because, as Dumbledore reminds us on multiple occasions: there are worse things than death - most notably in DH:

"Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all, those who live without love."

Love, and life with and without love is an undercurrent in the story. Lily's sacrifice is meaningless when made, and yet it's the biggest and most understandable expression of love anyone can show someone else. Lily cannot, and does not want to, live in a world where she has witnessed her son being murdered - especially when her husband has been murdered too. A world without Harry and James is no world for Lily Potter.

It is also - bear with me - not that different from what it was like to be in the Order at that time:

[Y]ou weren’t in the Order then, you don’t understand, last time we were outnumbered twenty to one by the Death Eaters and they were picking us off one by one...

“He — he was taking over everywhere!” gasped Pettigrew. “Wh — what was there to be gained by refusing him?”

The Order operated against the odds and were being picked off one by one. As Peter asks - what was there to be gained by refusing him? What was there to be gained from standing (metaphorically or not) in front of Voldemort's victims? I've said this before and I'll say it again, Sirius' answer is powerful:

“What was there to be gained by fighting the most evil wizard who has ever existed?” said Black, with a terribly fury in his face. “Only innocent lives, Peter!” “You don’t understand!” whined Pettigrew. “He would have killed me, Sirius!” “THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!” roared Black.

Only innocent lives. They weren't fighting this war because they were winning. In fact they were very much losing. But they were fighting because it was right thing to do. Many Order members chose to die, rather than to step aside and let Voldemort take over. Only in their case it didn't make a difference - or at least, it didn't feel like it at the time. Members were murdered, and Voldemort was just getting stronger and stronger.

What was there to be gained by refusing Voldemort?

I firmly believe this is a theme that is repeated throughout the book: not just love and choice, but the obligation to choose what is right, no matter the odds (the irony that this was written by JKR will never be lost on me), and how love is a powerful motivator to do just that. Doing the right thing might seem hopeless in the moment - wasteful even - but that doesn't mean it's not worth doing, or that in the end, it won't add up.

Imagine what Harry felt like at the end of PS/SS when he risked his life to stop Voldemort, only to realise that Voldemort would keep trying to come back:

“Well, Voldemort’s going to try other ways of coming back, isn’t he? I mean, he hasn’t gone, has he?” “No, Harry, he has not. (...) Nevertheless, Harry, while you may only have delayed his return to power, it will merely take someone else who is prepared to fight what seems a losing battle next time — and if he is delayed again, and again, why, he may never return to power.”

Harry Potter isn't about doing the right thing because it will bring you rewards, but because it is the right thing.

“Remember Cedric. Remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave, because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort. Remember Cedric Diggory.”

This speech doesn't sit well with a few people because it sounds like you're asked to remember what happened to someone who did do the right thing (spoiler: he died). But that's not the point, of course. Cedric wasn't killed for doing the right thing or making a hard choice - Dumbledore asks the students to remember Cedric because the enemy is willing to kill innocent people indiscriminately. Standing aside will not be good enough against people like Voldemort. There is, as Dumbledore put it, a need to keep fighting what seems a losing battle. Why? Only innocent lives.

Both James and Lily die that evening because they are unwilling to let Voldemort near their innocent son as long as there is breath in their bodies. James had no choice (this irks me because he did, he could have run away - he could have not fought Voldemort in the Order to being with. They all had a choice, but not the point). Lily had a choice. And she chose, like many had before her, to fight what seemed like a losing battle. She died, not knowing that she had saved her son. Her sacrifice was meaningless - like so many before her - and yet her sacrifice changed the world.

In the end, by choosing to do what was right, she was granted the wish she most desired: Her son lived.

[dinarosie]

Re-Reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Snape’s Moment of Unyielding Bravery

The scene I want to highlight in The Goblet of Fire is one that carries so much weight, and each time I re-read it, the gravity of the moment only increases. Imagine the setting: the hospital wing. It’s packed with people—Cornelius Fudge, Madam Pomfrey, Professor McGonagall, Bill and Molly Weasley, Hermione, Ron, and Harry. All eyes are on Snape as he steps forward, pulls up his sleeve, and reveals the Dark Mark burned into his skin.

“There,” said Snape harshly. “There. The Dark Mark. It is not as clear as it was an hour or so ago, when it burned black, but you can still see it. Every Death Eater had the sign burned into him by the Dark Lord. It was a means of distinguishing one another, and his means of summoning us to him. When he touched the Mark of any Death Eater, we were to Disapparate, and Apparate, instantly, at his side. This Mark has been growing clearer all year. Karkaroff’s too.

Let that sink in. Snape isn’t just showing a Mark; he’s exposing the deepest, darkest secret of his life. He’s standing in front of his students, his colleagues, and—let’s not forget—Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic, and he’s admitting something most people would bury forever.

What makes this even more remarkable is that the choice to do this wasn’t something Dumbledore told him to make. This isn’t part of some grand plan discussed beforehand. Snape makes this decision on his own, in the moment, fully aware of how it will tarnish him in the eyes of others. Why?

Because Snape understands the stakes. Fudge’s denial of Voldemort’s return endangers the entire wizarding world. By exposing the Dark Mark on his arm, Snape hopes to convince Fudge to take Voldemort’s return seriously. His goal is clear: to push the Ministry into taking precautionary measures and preparing the wizarding community for the battle ahead.

And then there’s this haunting line:

“…We both knew he had returned. Karkaroff fears the Dark Lord’s vengeance. He betrayed too many of his fellow Death Eaters to be sure of a welcome back into the fold.”

What Snape doesn’t say, but what we understand, is that he knows he’s facing the exact same fate. When Snape goes back to Voldemort, he knows he’ll be met with pain, torture, and humiliation and even death. Where Karkaroff sees only a way out, Snape sees his duty—a stark contrast that underscores Snape’s resolve.

Here’s what makes this even more powerful: Snape is so determined to convince Fudge that he uses the suffering he knows awaits him as evidence. He stands there, knowing that returning to Voldemort will mean enduring unbearable torture, and he uses that as proof of Voldemort’s return. Snape essentially says, “I know what’s coming for me, and I’m still standing here to tell you the truth.”

Then we reach the next turning point in this scene:

“Severus,” said Dumbledore, turning to Snape, “you know what I must ask you to do. If you are ready . . . if you are prepared . . .”

Look at Dumbledore’s approach here. He’s cautious, almost hesitant. This is a sharp contrast to Half-Blood Prince, where Dumbledore gives Snape direct orders about killing him. Here, Dumbledore knows exactly what he’s asking of Snape: to return to Voldemort, to put himself in unimaginable danger.

And Snape’s response?

“I am.”

That’s it. Two words. No hesitation, no complaint. J.K. Rowling describes him as pale, his cold, dark eyes glittering strangely. Dumbledore, too, is described as watching Snape leave with a trace of apprehension on his face. Both of them know that Snape might not come back. Both of them know he’s walking into the lion’s den. And yet, Snape doesn’t waver.

This moment is a masterclass in bravery, but it also completely dismantles the argument that Snape’s good deeds are purely motivated by guilt over Lily or his promise to Dumbledore.

This scene also shows us that the promise Snape made to Dumbledore after Lily’s death wasn’t just about protecting Harry. It was about choosing a side. Snape made the decision to fight against Voldemort, no matter the cost. From that moment on, he dedicated himself to sabotaging the Dark Lord’s plans, enduring unspeakable pain and danger in the process.

And let’s not overlook this: Snape doesn’t just fight when Harry is in danger. He fights Voldemort at every opportunity because he knows it’s the right thing to do. He does it not because of guilt or obligation, but because his own moral compass demands it.

This scene in The Goblet of Fire encapsulates everything that makes Snape such a complex, fascinating character. It’s raw, vulnerable, and incredibly brave. Snape isn’t perfect—far from it—but this moment proves that he is so much more than the sum of his flaws. He’s a man who chooses to stand and fight, even when it means sacrificing everything.

[blorger]

yes, hello, please let the record show that when Harry and Draco meet at Madame Malkin's and Harry is reminded strongly of Dudley Draco hasn't done anything that is particularly vile, he's just

been blond (technically "pale", we can't yet make the Dudley to Draco connection via hair color)

talked about having two involved parents

I direct the jury to this exchange:

Draco is just behaving like a kid, even if he uses the world "bully" ( he's clearly using it hyperbolically) and drawls (the Malfoy Special, if you will). This is not exactly villain foreshadowing 101.

Something could be said for how Draco's words suggest a power dynamic wherein he's in control of his parents, like Harry views Dudley and the Dursleys's relationship, but also... Draco is a child making boastful remarks to another child, one would expect exaggeration as par for the course.

I fail to see any signs of Great Evil; Draco's phrasing may have triggered feelings of inadequacy and maybe also envy, (Harry wants a family most of all as per the mirror of erised) but also, Harry has presumably been going to school and has met plenty of parented children, this can't be a new situation.

What I'm saying is that jkr is doing a bit of a tell don't show, she is giving us the key with which we are to interpret every one of Draco and Harry's interactions from this moment on but kind of falls flat in the execution.

What I (and others beside me) read in their following interaction is just two people not understanding eachother. One boy feels confused, insecure and out of his depth and the other one doesn't know this is happening. Draco is trying to make a good impression on a schoolmate by saying any and all impressive things he can think of, not knowing that by repeating his father's greatest hits he's inadvertently alienating Harry.

In conclusion, your honor, I posit to you that upon their meeting Harry immediately feels strongly about Draco but, in his inexperience (and lack of emotional development see: cupboard), he is unable to identify the origin of said strong feelings and attributes them to dislike (the Dudley Connection). Thus a scene meant to highlight their incompatibility ends up foreshadowing Harry and Draco's unusual bond instead.

tldr: drarry is a great ship, jkr is an idiot savant who managed to write the greatest enemies to lovers storyline of all time without meaning to and also I know I'm reaching but I've decided this is the bible truth since truth is what you make of it.